A B738 CREW WHILE CLRING THE RWY AT EWR MADE WING CONTACT WITH ANOTHER ACFT'S TAIL.

Date: 2001-08 · Aircraft: B737-800 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|conflict-ground-conflict|critical|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

A B738 CREW WHILE CLRING THE RWY AT EWR MADE WING CONTACT WITH ANOTHER ACFT'S TAIL.

Narrative

THIS STATEMENT IS CONCERNING THE INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED ON AUG/XA/01; WHILE OPERATING ACR X FLT XYZ; ATL TO EWR. I WAS THE FO AND PF. WE WERE FLYING A B737-800. I MADE THE APCH AND LNDG ON RWY 4R. IT WAS A VERY BUSY APCH AND LNDG WITH A LONG STRING OF ACFT AT 3 MI SEPARATION. THE WX WAS GOOD WITH A LITTLE HAZE AND THE TIME WAS APPROX XA30. THE LNDG AND ROLLOUT WERE UNEVENTFUL. AFTER THE CAPT TOOK CTL; HE TURNED OFF THE RWY ONTO TXWY L AT A SAFE SPD AND CONTINUED TO SLOW TO TAXI SPD. IT WAS A WELL LIT HIGH-SPD TXWY AND APPROX 3/4 DISTANCE DOWN THE RWY. CAPT HAD TO STOP JUST AFTER LEAVING THE RWY BECAUSE OF AN ACR Y; B737 STOPPED AT THE INTXN OF TXWYS L AND Y. THAT ACFT WAS WAITING BEHIND ANOTHER ACFT TO CROSS RWY 4L AT TXWY Y. TWR REQUESTED THE ACR Y ACFT AHEAD OF US TO MOVE FORWARD AND FOR US TO CONTINUE STRAIGHT AHEAD AT TXWY L TO TXWY P AND HOLD SHORT OF RWY 4L ON TXWY W. THE ACR Y ACFT MOVED FORWARD A LITTLE AND STOPPED AGAIN. CAPT STARTED MOVING FORWARD BECAUSE WE FELT WE WERE NOT COMPLETELY PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE ON TXWY L FOR RWY 4R; AND ANOTHER ACFT WAS ON VERY SHORT FINAL PREPARING TO LAND. WE WERE CONCERNED THAT LNDG ACFT BEHIND US COULD EITHER CLIP US AS THEY PASSED TXWY L OR EVEN MORE SO; TURNING INTO TXWY L AT A FAST RATE OF SPD AND NOT BEING ABLE TO STOP IN TIME. CAPT TAXIED VERY SLOWLY AS WE WERE PASSING THE ACR Y; B737; AND HE WAS CONSTANTLY LOOKING OUT HIS SIDE WINDOW. I ASKED IF HE THOUGHT WE COULD MAKE IT PAST AND HE FELT WE COULD. HE ALSO ASKED ME TO MAKE SURE WE STAYED ON THE TXWY ON THE R SIDE. I INFORMED HIM WE HAD ROOM ON THE R AND I BELIEVE WE WERE MOVING TOWARD THE R WHEN WE CONTACTED THE ACR Y; B737. WE NOTIFIED TWR. THERE WERE NO INJURIES AND WE FOLLOWED NORMAL POST-INCIDENT PROCS; INCLUDING DRUG TESTING. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: VERY BUSY ARPT; LONG DUTY DAY; NOT ANTICIPATING ACR Y WOULD MOVE SUCH A SMALL DISTANCE; NOT ANTICIPATING WING GROWTH WHEN TURNING AWAY FROM THE ACR Y ACFT; NIGHTTIME; AND DEPTH PERCEPTION IS HAMPERED BY IT. SUGGESTIONS TO PREVENT: DON'T STACK ACFT ON TXWYS BEFORE XING ANOTHER RWY AT NIGHT; DON'T TAXI ACFT OR EXPECT ACFT TO TAXI SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER AT NIGHT; GET SOME WAY OF ALLOWING ACFT TO TALK TO CTLRS DURING VERY BUSY TIMES; TALK ABOUT WING GROWTH DURING TURNS IN TRAINING. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 521941: I TAXIED VERY SLOWLY WHILE WATCHING THE WINGTIP WITH THE INTENT OF GETTING OUR TAIL OUT OF THE RWY ENVIRONMENT. THE FO STATED THERE WAS MORE ROOM ON THE R; I MOVED A LITTLE TO THE R IN AN EFFORT TO OBTAIN MORE CLRNC. IT APPEARED WE HAD ADEQUATE CLRNC; BUT MY L WINGTIP CONTACTED THE ACFT IN FRONT OF ME BELOW THE TAIL AND AFT OF THE END OF THE APU. THERE WERE NO INJURIES AND MINOR DAMAGE. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 521180: AFTER LNDG ON RWY 4R; TAXIED CLR OF TXWY Y BEHIND MD80 HOLDING TO CROSS RWY 4L. ACR B737 LANDED BEHIND US; EXITED AT TXWY Y ALSO TO TRANSITION TO TXWY L. THEIR L WINGTIP CONTACTED OUR AFT FUSELAGE BY APU EXHAUST WHILE WE WERE PARKED. NY PORT AUTH INSPECTED US AND RELEASED US TO THE GATE. NO INJURIES WERE RPTED. NOTE: ON TELECON CAPT REMEMBERED THAT HIS ACFT'S LOGO LIGHTS INOP. THIS COULD HAVE AFFECTED THE ACR X CREW'S VIEW OF OUR ACFT.

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