UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A 'FOLLOW ME' VEHICLE AN ACR HITS GND EQUIP WITH AN OUTBOARD ENG.

Date: 2002-02 · Aircraft: B747-200 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: ground-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A 'FOLLOW ME' VEHICLE AN ACR HITS GND EQUIP WITH AN OUTBOARD ENG.

Narrative

AFTER LNDG ON RWY 10 AT NAVAL AIR STATION NORFOLK; VA (NGU) I MADE A R-HAND TURNOFF AT THE END. WHILE TAXIING ON TXWY F I CAME TO THE INTXN OF TXWYS F AND M. I WAS FOLLOWING A 'FOLLOW ME' TRUCK THAT LEAD ME TO TURN S ON TXWY M. THE TURN WAS VERY TIGHT; BUT I SUCCESSFULLY NAVED THE TURN AND CONTINUED TO FOLLOW THE 'FOLLOW ME' TRUCK S ON TXWY M TO MY PARKING SPACE. AFTER OPENING THE ACFT DOOR A GND CREWMAN ADVISED ME WE HAD STRUCK A PIECE OF GND EQUIP IN THE GRASS SOMETIME DURING THE TRANSITION FROM TXWYS F TO M. I INSPECTED THE #1 ENG AND FOUND A SMALL DENT AND ABOUT 4-5 FT SCRAPE MARK ON THE LOWER INBOARD SIDE OF THE NACELLE. I THEN WENT OVER TO THE PIECE OF EQUIP IN THE GRASS AND OBSERVED PAINT; SIMILAR TO THE COLOR THE NACELLE IS PAINTED; ON THE EXHAUST STACK. I DID NOT NOTICE MAKING CONTACT WITH THE GND EQUIP. I BELIEVE A COUPLE ISSUES LEAD TO THE INCIDENT. 1) I WAS WATCHING THE PROGRESS OF THE 'FOLLOW ME' TRUCK AFTER IT HAD MADE THE TURN FROM TXWY F TO M. 2) AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME I WAS NAVING A VERY NARROW TURN FROM TXWY F ONTO TXWY M. 3) THE PIECE OF GND EQUIP WAS PAINTED YELLOW AND BLENDED IN WITH THE COLOR OF THE GRASS IT WAS SITTING IN.

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