What happened
On 20 September 1999, during the boarding process for a public transport flight at Stansted Airport, a young child fell from a Boeing 757-204, registration G-BYAU. While passengers were entering the aircraft via a set of steps positioned at the rear of the plane, a gap of approximately six inches opened between the top of the steps and the aircraft door sill. The child fell through this space and landed on the ground. Emergency services arrived at the scene within 15 minutes. Following a hospital assessment, the child was found to have a bruised body and a fractured wrist.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the condition and positioning of the boarding equipment used during the incident. The steps had been placed at the aircraft roughly one hour prior to the accident to facilitate the disembarkation of a previous flight. Upon inspection, investigators discovered that the steps were in a degraded state, featuring a missing foot on the jack and a damaged stabiliser mount on one side, which hindered proper deployment. Furthermore, one of the four stabiliser jacks remained in the retracted position, and the handbrake was found to be disengaged. It was determined that the equipment likely drifted away from the aircraft door over time.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the gradual movement of the boarding steps away from the aircraft door, which created the hazardous gap.
- The steps were improperly secured due to a missing jack foot and a retracted stabiliser jack.
- A damaged mount made it difficult to deploy the steps correctly.
- The handbrake was not engaged, contributing to the instability of the equipment.
- The employee responsible for the initial positioning of the steps faced disciplinary action, and the equipment was removed from service.