What happened
On 19 October 2022, an Ethiopian Airlines flight arriving from Addis Ababa landed at Cape Town International Aerodrome. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-260LR with registration ET-ANN, was directed to parking bay Alpha 3. During the arrival process, a marshaller and a trainee marshaller were guiding the aircraft into its designated spot. As the aircraft moved toward the gate, the top section of the number one engine inlet cowling struck a passenger airbridge that was positioned in the parking area.
While there were no injuries among the 305 passengers and 13 crew members on board, the incident caused minor damage to the aircraft and required the airbridge to be taken out of service for repairs to its motion sensors. The aircraft was grounded for inspections by engineering teams flown in from Ethiopia.
The investigation
SACAA AIID investigators examined the sequence of events leading to the contact, focusing on the information provided to ground personnel. The investigation revealed that the Advance Visual Docking Guidance System (AVDGS) at the bay was incorrectly configured for a Boeing 7/87-900 rather than the arriving aircraft.
Furthermore, the investigation looked into the communication between the airline and the apron office. It was discovered that a movement message sent by the airline contained conflicting registration data, with different aircraft identifiers appearing in the subject line and the body of the email. This discrepancy contributed to the incorrect setup of the docking guidance system.
Findings
- The primary cause of the collision was that the aircraft was marshalled to the incorrect nose wheel marking, specifically using a marker intended for a Boeing 777-300, which is significantly longer than the arriving aircraft.
- Conflicting information in the airline's movement message led to the apron office updating the management system with the wrong aircraft type.
- The marshaller failed to recognize the actual aircraft type despite being alerted by a ramp agent that the plane was a Boeing 777-200.
- The passenger airbridge was parked in a position that compromised safety clearance.
- The airbridge operator was unable to provide a warning because they were not in radio contact with the marshaller and lacked a clear line of sight or access to signal the crew from the left side of the bridge.