Incident Details
A recent ground incident involved a collision between an airplane and a ramp vehicle during parking operations. According to the pilot, he was following the ramp agent's marshalling signals while parking the airplane. He initiated a right turn as signaled and stopped when he lost sight of the ramp agent. The ramp agent had bent down to move a set of wheel chocks, momentarily disappearing from the pilot's view. After a few seconds, the ramp agent came back into the pilot's view and gave the command to continue the right turn.
Sequence of Events
Once the turn was re-initiated, the pilot found it difficult to move the airplane without using more power than expected. He stopped the airplane and upon exiting, discovered that the airplane had come into contact with one of the ramp vehicles. The airplane's right aft fuselage was crushed inward, puncturing the aft cabin pressure bulkhead.
The tug operator stated that he had observed the airplane stop and thought it was finished parking and ready for service. He then positioned the tug and baggage cart behind the airplane to unload baggage. When the airplane began to move again, he was unable to move the tug before the collision occurred. The ramp agent did not see the tug move in behind the airplane prior to re-initiating the airplane turn.