What happened
On 22 August 2019, a Boeing 777-200, registration AP-BGZ, was preparing for a commercial passenger flight from Birmingham Airport to Islamabad. Following a standard pushback procedure, the aircraft was stationary with the parking brake engaged. The flight crew instructed the ground personnel to disconnect all equipment and provide a hand signal once the area was clear.
After the tug and towbar were disconnected, the ground crew positioned the tug to the left of the aircraft's nose and moved the towbar behind the tug for removal. While the crew observed the tug and personnel moving, a period of silence followed where no further contact or hand signals were received from the ground staff. Despite attempts to communicate via the intercom and visual gestures, the crew could not establish contact. Believing the ground personnel had cleared the area, the commander requested taxi clearance from Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Approximately 23 seconds after the disconnection, the aircraft began to move. Shortly after initiating the taxi, the aircraft struck the towbar, causing damage to both the equipment and the taxiway surface. There were no injuries to the 11 crew members or 209 passengers on board, and no damage was sustained by the aircraft itself.
The investigation
The investigation examined the sequence of events following the pushback, specifically focusing on the communication gap between the flight deck and the ground crew. Investigators reviewed airport CCTV footage from Stand 55C, which captured the movement of the aircraft and the positioning of the ground equipment. The timeline revealed that the interval between the disconnection of the towbar and the aircraft's movement was significantly shorter than the typical two to three-minute window reported by the handling agent.
Findings
- The flight crew proceeded to request taxi clearance from ATC without receiving the required final clearing hand signal from the ground staff.
- The crew failed to utilize ATC to verify whether all ground personnel and equipment had safely vacated the aircraft's path.
- The commander decided to taxi before confirming that all ground personnel and equipment were clear of the aircraft.