Event
On 29 August 2000 at 1006 hours UTC, a Lightship A-60, registration I-TIRE, was returning from a post-maintenance test flight at Wolverhampton Business Airport. The surface wind was 090°/6 kt. The ground handling crew (GHC) formed a 'V' aligned with the wind at the touchdown end of paved Runway 04. The crew chief instructed the GHC members to move in. One member, serving as Car Party, ran forward to grab the right handrail of the gondola. She tripped and fell onto her back. As she fell, her right foot involuntarily went upward, and the right engine propeller tip struck her ankle. The pilot reported the accident immediately at 1006 hrs to the Flight Information Service Officer, who alerted the Airport Fire Service. A doctor on board a taxiing aircraft assisted, and an ambulance took the casualty to hospital at about 1028 hrs. She sustained a broken ankle. The aircraft sustained no damage, and the crew (two pilots) were uninjured.
Ground Handling Context
The Lightship A-60 is a cigar-shaped airship with cruciform tail fins and a gondola suspended aft of the bow. It has two Limbach L-2000 piston engines driving pusher propellers without protective guards. Normal ground handling involves a crew of at least one crew chief, four line runners, and two car party members. The engines are operated asymmetrically during landing; for this approach, the left engine was shutdown and the right engine at idle. The injured crew member had been with the company since May, receiving on-the-job training and had participated in about 10 landings as Car Party. She stated this landing was faster than any she had previously experienced. The company's Operations Manual provided a formal basis for GHC training, but implementation was less formal.
Human Factors
The injured crew member had worked from 1530 hrs to about 2330 hrs the previous day. She slept from about 0030 hrs to 0300 hrs, then worked from 0400 hrs to 0600 hrs preparing the airship. She returned to the hotel for about two hours of sleep before returning to the airfield at 0900 hrs. She felt particularly tired that morning. Normally she wore appropriate boots, but they were wet, so she wore trainers. The handrail on the gondola was at about waist height for her (she was about 5 feet 11 inches tall).
Manufacturer Comment
The manufacturer (USA-based) assisted the investigation. To their knowledge, the A-60 had accumulated over 100,000 flight hours, and this was the first known accident of this type. They noted that while some airships with tractor propellers have propeller guards, there are no regulatory requirements. Performance and weight penalties exist, and designing a guard that withstands ground contact during mooring mast rolling is challenging. The manufacturer's FAA-approved Ground Handling Manual includes safety precautions emphasizing constant observance during ground handling.