What happened
On February 21, 2015, at approximately 20:00 local time, a Saab 340 was undergoing ground servicing at Rzeszów-Jesionka Airport (EPRZ) in preparation for a flight to EPSC. After passengers had boarded and baggage had been loaded, the crew began the engine start sequence.
During this process, Air Traffic Control (TWR) notified the pilot that one piece of luggage remained in the storage area and needed to be loaded onto the flight. The pilot decided to shut down the engines to facilitate the loading of the remaining bag and communicated this intention to the tower, which subsequently informed the ground traffic coordinator.
However, before the engines had been fully shut down, a ground handling employee proceeded to load the remaining baggage into the cargo hold. Once the ground operations were confirmed as complete, the pilot restarted the engines, and the flight proceeded to departure without further incident.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of ground operations and the communication between the flight crew and ground personnel. The investigators examined the coordination between the tower, the flight crew, and the ground handling staff to determine why the loading process was initiated while the engines were still operational.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the failure to follow established procedures regarding ground safety and aircraft engine status.
- The ground handler performed the loading task without waiting for the engines to be fully shut down as intended.
- Weather conditions at the time of the incident had no impact on the occurrence.