What happened
On 16 September 2003, an Airbus A320, registration SX-BVB, was arriving at Stand 150 at London Heathrow Airport for a passenger flight. At the time, a Boeing 757 was undergoing a turnaround at the same stand and was being prepared for a long pushback. Ground handling staff had parked a Ford Escort vehicle near the nose landing gear of the Boeing 757. While company procedures required all obstructions to be cleared before the aircraft's anti-collision lights were activated, the vehicle remained on the stand.
As the SX-BVB approached the stand, a dispatcher, preoccupied with testing a jet bridge, failed to ensure the stand was entirely clear. The flight crew, following the Azimuth Guidance for Nose-in Stands (AGNIS) signals, moved the aircraft forward. Although ground handlers attempted to signal the pilots to stop, the pilots did not see the warnings. The aircraft eventually came to a halt after the underside of the right engine cowling made contact with the bonnet of the parked Ford Escort. The incident resulted in no injuries and only minor abrasion to the engine cowling paint.
The investigation
The investigation established that the dispatcher had diverted his attention from monitoring the stand clearance to testing the functionality of a jet bridge that had been parked in an unusual position. Because the aircraft's fuselage blocked the dispatcher's view from the elevated jet bridge, he was unaware the vehicle remained on the stand.
Furthermore, the investigation found that while the AGNIS system includes an emergency 'STOP' light, the ground handlers were unaware of the location of the manual trigger switch. The investigation also noted that the activation of the AGNIS serves as a signal to aircrew that the stand is clear, yet in this instance, the system was activated while an obstruction was still present.