Incident
On 14 April 2007 at 0710 UTC, a Britten-Norman BN2A Mk III-2 Trislander, registration G-BEDP, sustained minor damage when its left wing tip collided with the right wing tip of a parked empty Jetstream aircraft on Stand 8 at Jersey Airport, Channel Islands. The Trislander, operated by a commercial air transport company, had one pilot and three passengers on board. The Jetstream was unoccupied. The collision resulted in paint being scraped and a small dent on the Trislander's left wing tip, and the Jetstream's right wing tip strobe light lens and upper cover were broken. There were no injuries to the crew or passengers.
Background
The parking arrangement on Stand 8 at Jersey Airport required the Trislander and the Jetstream to be parked parallel to each other, facing west, and close to the terminal building. This arrangement had been in place since February 2007. Before that, Stand 7 had also been available but was closed due to conflicts with traffic from an adjacent roadway. The evening before the incident, the Trislander was parked on Stand 8 facing west. Later that evening, a company Jetstream also parked on Stand 8, just to the left of the Trislander. The Trislander was scheduled to depart before the Jetstream the following morning.
Flight History
Prior to boarding, the marshallers brought the commander's attention to the close proximity of the empty Jetstream. The commander judged there was enough room to manoeuvre off the stand with the marshallers monitoring both wing tips. One marshaller was positioned at the left wing tip, another watched the right wing tip and stopped traffic from driving across the closed Stand 7. The commander noted that when viewed from the front, the wing tips were coincident, but the Jetstream's right wing tip was slightly forward of the Trislander's left wing tip.
When ready to taxi, the commander repeated his instruction to the marshallers to monitor the wing tips and observed both marshallers giving a "thumbs up" signal. After releasing the parking brake, he advanced the throttle on the left engine to turn the aircraft slightly right to clear the Jetstream's left wing tip, then planned to straighten up and taxi off the stand. As the aircraft started to move, the commander looked to the right to check clearance from the terminal, then looked left and saw the marshaller on the left wing tip shaking his head and indicating to shut down the engines. The commander applied the parking brake, shut down the engines, instructed the passengers to disembark, and inspected the damage. The incident occurred during daylight hours.
Marshaller's Comments
The marshaller monitoring the left wing tip had also marshalled the Jetstream onto Stand 8 the previous evening. He reported that he had planned to position the Jetstream slightly behind the Trislander because it was due to depart later. However, when he indicated to the Jetstream's commander to stop, the aircraft continued forward, stopping with its right wing tip slightly forward of the Trislander's left wing tip. The marshaller stated it was not considered necessary to push the Jetstream back to its intended parking position.
Aftermath
As a result of the incident, the operating company's station manager stated that parking arrangements on Stands 8 and 9 were changed in consultation with the airport authorities. Wing tip clearance requirements between adjacent aircraft were increased, and aircraft are now parked facing south, away from the terminal. Yellow arrows have been painted on the ground to assist company pilots with the new arrangements.