A B777 WINGTIP STRUCK A B737 VERT STAB WHEN THE TRAINEE TUG DRIVER FAILED TO RESPOND TO THE WINGWALKERS AND THE INSTRUCTOR.

2005-08 · NASA ASRS report 669269

Date: 2005-08 · Aircraft: B777-200 · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

A B777 WINGTIP STRUCK A B737 VERT STAB WHEN THE TRAINEE TUG DRIVER FAILED TO RESPOND TO THE WINGWALKERS AND THE INSTRUCTOR.

Narrative

PUSHING EARLY; WITH PROPER PUSH CREW OF 2 WINGMEN AND TUG DRIVER. WE PUSHED BACK FROM GATE X. WHEN NEARING THE NORMAL STOP AREA; WE CAME TO A GENTLE STOP WITH A SLIGHT SHUDDER. THE TUG DRIVER HAD ME SET THE BRAKES AND WITH A SLIGHT DELAY INFORMED ME THAT; 'I THINK WE HIT ACR Y'S PLANE BEHIND US.' I NOTICED ACTIVITY ON THE L SIDE OF THE ACFT AND INFORMED THE TUG DRIVER TO LET ME KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I WAS INFORMED THAT WE INDEED HAD HIT THE L WINGTIP OF THE B737 PARKED AT THE GATE; AND WHILE WE HAD MINIMUM DAMAGE; WE WOULD HAVE TO RETURN TO THE GATE TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE. AT THAT TIME; WE CALLED GND CTL AND INFORMED THEM OF THE SIT. I INFORMED THE PAX AS TO WHAT HAPPENED AND AFTER RATHER LENGTHY DELAY FOR INSPECTION BY ARPT; POLICE; AND OUR MAINT PERSONNEL; IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE B737 WOULD HAVE TO BE MOVED ABOUT 5 FT FORWARD TO CLEAR OUR WING SO WE COULD MOVE FORWARD BACK INTO THE GATE. WE RETURNED TO THE GATE AND BLOCKED IN AT XA:40 LOCAL TIME. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE WINGTIP LENS AND ONE STATIC WICK WAS DAMAGED. PARTS WERE FLOWN IN FROM ANOTHER STATION. CREW LEGALITY WAS AN ISSUE AT THE TIME. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 669277: I WAS IN THE PUSH TUG TRAINING ON DISPATCH ON FLT. I PROCEEDED IN DRIVING FORWARD THEN TURNING L TOWARDS THE TAXI LINE. WHEN I SAW THE MAIN GEAR NEAR THE TAXI LINE; I SAW SOMETHING DROP ON MY R SIDE SO I STOPPED. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 669284: I WAS THE PAX ON THE PUSHBACK TRACTOR. THERE WERE TWO WINGWALKERS OUT THERE WHILE THE PUSHBACK DRIVER PUSHED. WHEN HE WAS PUSHING; THE WINGWALKER THAT I WAS LOOKING AT GAVE THE DRIVER THE STOP SIGN AND I ALSO WAS YELLING OUT TO STOP. AS THE WINGWALKER AND I WERE TRYING TO GET HIM TO STOP; THE PLANE KEPT MOVING AND ENDED UP HITTING THE OTHER PLANE. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 669276: I WAS A WINGWALKER ON FLT; ON PUSHBACK I COULD SEE THAT WE WERE GETTING TOO CLOSE TO ANOTHER ACFT. SO I GAVE THE STOP SIGNAL; BUT THE PUSHBACK TRACTOR NEVER STOPPED. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 669283: ON PUSHBACK; THE TRACTOR WAS TOO CLOSE. I GAVE THE STOP SIGNAL 'X'; AND TRACTOR NEVER STOPPED.

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

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.