Originally Posted by
Airbubba
Is that really the protocol?
As tdracer pointed out above, jet engine human ingestion is pretty rare, and there would probably be no over-all (macro) protocol to handle such a situation; however, embedded in a 'macro' protocol would be numerous minor protocols to deal with the details of the investigation. Examples of the so-called minor protocols would include such things as chain-of-custody/evidence, incident scene documentation, site preservation, site safety etc. and would all be part of the overall investigation. General guidelines or protocols are established for different circumstances, but those circumstances can vary so much that they would not be considered to be reasonably foreseeable. Often a body is recovered by a law enforcement agency and then transferred to the jurisdiction of the medical examiner; however, at a stable incident site (such as the one that is the subject of this thread), the body usually must be released by the Medical Examiner.
As to lomopaseo's suggestion that the entire engine could be removed and given to the Medical Examiner, that would be entirely possible. For example, in my experience in working with the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office, I've seen entire automobiles (human remains in situ) taken to the medical examiner's facility. In the case of the subject jet engine (CF-56 ?), my guess is that both police and medical examiner personnel would witness the tear down at a maintenance facility, gathering evidence as the tear down proceeded. As pointed out by lomapaseo, this would not be something the average jet engine mechanic routinely encounters and would be very stressful.
Just my "two-cents".
Cheers,
Grog