What happened
On 3 January 2000, at approximately 23:55 UTC, a Boeing 747-236B, registration G-BDXB, was parked at Stand H9 at London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft was engaged in a public transport operation with 21 crew members and 109 passengers on board. During the loading process, a baggage loader finished loading the forward hold and began moving the elevator truck away from the aircraft. Before the hold door could be closed, the bottom left-hand corner of the door struck a safety rail on the elevator bridge, resulting in damage to the door.
Following the impact, the baggage loader notified the dispatcher, who then alerted the aircraft commander. There were no fatalities and no injuries to any persons on board or ground staff.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of events leading to the contact between the cargo door and the ground equipment. It was established that the baggage loader had moved the elevator truck away from the aircraft but had not reversed the vehicle far enough to clear the aircraft's structure before the door was closed.
Further examination revealed that the loader had been unable to lower the safety rail on the elevator truck to a horizontal position before closing the door. A subsequent inspection of the equipment determined that the issue was caused by an incorrect safety rail being fitted to the elevator truck.