Incident Overview
On 25 June 2004 at approximately 1330 UTC, an Embraer EMB-145EP, registration G-RJXD, was parked at a stand at Edinburgh Airport, Scotland, preparing for a public transport passenger flight. The aircraft had no passengers on board; the crew of four were present. Just prior to boarding, a baggage truck that had been servicing an aircraft on the neighboring stand drove away and struck the starboard wing of G-RJXD.
The right wing of the Embraer was low enough to penetrate the windscreen of the baggage truck. The direction of the truck's travel caused substantial damage to the aileron trailing edge of the wing. No injuries to the crew were reported.
Contributing Circumstances
It is likely that the driver of the baggage truck was concentrating on avoiding the left wing of the aircraft he had just driven away from and consequently did not notice G-RJXD's right wing. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the driver was also driving into bright sunshine, which may have reduced visibility of the wing.
Post-Incident Assessment
Following the incident, Edinburgh Airport staff conducted a joint assessment with the handling agent of vehicle operations around aircraft parked on the stand where G-RJXD was located. The assessment concluded that there were no 'location specific' risks that made vehicle operations on this stand any more hazardous than on other similar stands at Edinburgh Airport.