A FREIGHTER LOCKHEED ELECTRA HIT A BARRIER WITH ONE OF ITS PROPS. ACFT DAMAGE PROP ONLY. ERROR ADMITTED.

Date: 1996-10 · Aircraft: Electra L-188

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|other-unspecified

Synopsis

A FREIGHTER LOCKHEED ELECTRA HIT A BARRIER WITH ONE OF ITS PROPS. ACFT DAMAGE PROP ONLY. ERROR ADMITTED.

Narrative

RWY AT UNK; AK; WAS UNDERGOING REPAIRS SO RWY WAS SPLIT IN HALF LENGTHWISE. ONE HALF HAD BEEN UNDER REPAIR FOR A WHILE AND LAST 1000 FT NOTAMED UNUSABLE. SAWHORSE-TYPE OBSTRUCTION SIGNS MARKED THIS AREA AND WERE PLACED ON RWY. WE HAD TAXIED BTWN THESE SIGNS MANY TIMES -- PLENTY OF ROOM. THIS MORNING THE NEWLY REFURBISHED HALF OF THE RWY WAS OPEN AND THE OTHER HALF CLOSED. WHEN SAWHORSE- TYPE SIGNS WERE MOVED TO OTHER HALF OF RWY; THEY WERE PLACED TOO CLOSE TOGETHER. ON OUR FIRST TAXI IN; WE HIT A SIGN WITH THE #1 PROP. A DC6 (SIMILAR SIZE ACFT) HAD ALREADY FIT WITH NO PROB. THE ARPT MGR HAD TRIED WITHOUT SUCCESS TO HAVE THE STATE OF ALASKA MOVE THE SIGNS; KNOWING WE SERVED THIS ARPT IN A LARGE ACFT (LOCKHEED ELECTRA). WHEN MEASURED LATER; THERE WAS NO WAY WE COULD HAVE FIT; A PROP STRIKE WAS INEVITABLE. MECHS WERE FLOWN OUT TO INSPECT THE PROP AND FOUND IT ACCEPTABLE ONLY TO FERRY IT TO ANC WHERE THE PROP HAD TO BE REMOVED FOR REPLACEMENT. THE SIGNS WERE LATER RELOCATED OFF THE USABLE RWY SURFACE; AS THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE BEGINNING.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.