Photographer Amanda Gallagher Dead at 37 After Backing Into Plane Propeller While Taking Photo

One Kansas community is grieving after an unexpected loss.

Professional photographer Amanda Gallagher of Wichita, Kan., died Oct. 26 at Air Capital Drop Zone, a skydiving company in Derby, Kan., when she backed into an active plane propeller while taking pictures, according to authorities. She was 37. 

“Sedgwick County Sheriff Deputies were dispatched to a public accident at [Air Capital Drop Zone], that occurred on October 26th at approximately 2:40 p.m.,” Lieutenant Eric Slay said in a statement obtained by E! News. “Amanda Gallagher made contact with a grounded and stationary, but still running plane, and received critical injuries.”

Gallagher was then taken to a local medical center where she was pronounced dead, per the statement.

In the midst of the tragedy, Martin Myrtle, the skydiving company’s owner, sought to provide clarity and information surrounding the incident.

“After the airplane landed, for unknown reasons, as the next group of jumpers were boarding, she moved in front of the wing, a violation of basic safety procedures,” a statement from Air Capital Drop Zone, obtained by NBC News affiliate KSNW, read. “With her camera up to shoot photos as she did so, she stepped back slightly moving toward and into the spinning propeller.”

Cook Airfield, a privately-owned airport that houses the skydiving company, also released a statement, calling for the community to come together in the wake of Amanda’s death.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the young lady who died yesterday after a tragic accident with an airplane propeller on Cook Airfield,” the Facebook statement read. “Just please keep her family, her friends and her Air Capital Drop Zone family in your prayers and thoughts.”

A GoFundMe page—launched to gather donations for Amanda’s funeral expenses—described her death as a “very sad accident,” but said she died “doing what she loved, skying and taking pictures!”

“Amanda Gallagher was kind, adventurous, creative and beautiful inside and out,” the fundraiser’s description read. “She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend and will be greatly missed.”

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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