ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 178531
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| Date: | Sunday 24 November 2013 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing 757-23N (WL) |
| Owner/operator: | US Airways |
| Registration: | N203UW |
| MSN: | 30548/930 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 67 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Brussel-Zaventem Airport (BRU/EBBR) -
 Belgium
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Brussel-Zaventem Airport (BRU/EBBR) |
| Philadelphia International Airport, PA (PHL/KPHL) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIU Belgium |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
At 09:41 UTC, flight US751 to Philadelphia (KPHL), scheduled to depart at 09:55, started pushback from stand 204 at Brussel-Zaventem Airport (BRU). The aircraft was pushed back on taxiway R4 and then towed on taxiway S. This was done by a single operator driving a towbarless tug nose wheel lifter.
At position 210 the ramp operator was told to stop the aircraft whereupon he instructed the flight crew to set the brake. Subsequently the pilot gave permission to disconnect the steering by-pass pin and the chord of the headset.
When this was done, the ramp operator was walking back to his tug when suddenly he heard the engines spooling up and saw the aircraft starting to move. He immediately ran to the right hand side of the aircraft trying to catch the attention of the pilots by hand signals. But meanwhile the nose gear of the aircraft collided with the lifting mechanism of the tow tug. The tug was pushed forward several meters before the aircraft came to an abrupt stop, resulting in a bouncing movement of the aircraft nose.
The tug continued moving for a few meters after the aircraft had stopped. The ramp operator reconnected the headset and informed the flight crew about what happened. The flight crew further notified ATC about the event. A maintenance crew arrived at the scene and confirmed that the aircraft was able to taxi to a parking stand. Passengers and crew remained on board while aircraft was inspected. At 13:55 UTC passengers disembarked and flight was cancelled.
The collision caused some cabin crew to fall over with several of them being slightly injured. However, none of them wanted to see a doctor. No injuries were reported among the passengers. The ground operator also didn’t suffer any injury.
Conclusion
The collision occurred because the aircraft started to taxi whilst the pushback was not completed. Contributing factors were the lack of any visible cue to the flight crew inherent to the current operation with a towbarless tug and due to procedures not harmonised between the ground operator and the airline.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
http://www.mobilit.belgium.be/nl/binaries/2013-25%20Final%20report_tcm466-247115.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Aug-2015 17:58 | harro | Added |
| 11-Aug-2015 18:09 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn] |
| 07-Nov-2022 20:29 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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