Incident Description
During pushback operations, an aircraft collided with a parked catering truck that had been positioned behind the airplane. The catering truck driver had parked the vehicle directly behind the aircraft, set the parking brake, turned off the engine, but left the headlights on. He stated he was not concerned about parking behind the airplane because the jetway was still in position, the aircraft's rotating beacon was not flashing, and another catering truck was servicing the coach section.
Pre-Pushback Activities
Prior to the collision, the other catering truck moved around to the front of the airplane to service the first class section. After baggage had been loaded in the forward cargo bin, the belt loader was backed away from the airplane. Normally, the belt loader would then be positioned on the vehicle service road to warn traffic that an airplane was being pushed back. This was not possible because the belt loader was blocked by the catering truck that had backed away from the airplane.
The tug operator had made a previous walk-around inspection of the airplane and observed no hazards. He said that prior to pushback, he looked under the airplane one more time and saw no obstacles. He stated he did not see the parked catering truck.
Collision
As the catering truck was backing away from the airplane, pushback began and the airplane collided with the parked catering truck.