AN aircraft engineer was killed after he was sucked into a plane engine during a routine maintenance check which turned horribly wrong.

he man had reportedly entered the testing engine enclosure when the engine was running at Woodbourne Airport, near Blenheim, New Zealand, this morning.

Police would not immediately confirm how the man died but said officers were “assisting an Occupational Safety and Health investigation” into the matter.

Emergency services were called to the airport just after 8am (6AEST) today but the man was already dead by the time ambulance crews arrived.

The engineer was working for Safe Air - an aviation maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO), design and manufacturing business which works on both commercial and military aircraft.