Incident Details
On 10 August 2000 at 1430 UTC, a Boeing 747-236B (registration G-BDXK) was preparing for pushback at London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft was on a scheduled public transport flight to Newark with 17 crew and 337 passengers on board. No injuries were reported among crew or passengers.
Aircraft and Jetty Interaction
The dispatcher attempted to reverse the jetty (gate bridge) away from the aircraft after it had been removed from door BT5. The jetty initially moved only about one foot before stopping. It then moved to the left of the aircraft door but still failed to reverse. As the dispatcher tried to change the wheel direction, the jetty continued moving back toward the aircraft. The dispatcher released the control stick and pressed the emergency stop button, but the jetty struck the aircraft's left wing root, causing a hole in the upper surface of the inboard left wing.
Investigation Findings
Investigation by the aircraft operator and the airport operator identified a faulty relay in the jetty control system. This fault may have caused the jetty to lurch in a direction different from that intended by the operator.