Incident Overview
On 26 February 2003, a Boeing 747-436 registered as G-BNLZ sustained damage to its forward cargo door seal during pre-flight preparations at London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft was positioned on Stand W1 and was being prepared for a public transport passenger flight. The flight crew, consisting of 18 crew members and 294 passengers, were not injured.
Sequence of Events
During the pre-flight preparation, a ground engineer informed the flight crew that the forward cargo door had struck the side hand rail of a freight elevator vehicle. The elevator vehicle had been used to load freight into the forward cargo hold. The impact occurred while the cargo door was being closed, resulting in damage to the cargo door seal.
Aftermath
Due to the damaged seal, the aircraft was removed from service to facilitate repairs. The nature of the damage was limited to the cargo door seal. The commander held an Airline Transport Pilot's Licence and had accumulated 13,867 flying hours, with 773 hours on type. The aircraft was manufactured in 1993 and was equipped with four Rolls-Royce RB211-524H2-19 turbofan engines.