Truck wedged under Malev 737 wing

[FlyUK]

I'm sure some of you will be intrested to see a photo that i took today at LHR. Someone in their truck decided to forget about the height and managed to wedge themself under the Malev 737-800 wing. If you are intrested in the originals or want to use the photo please contact me.

http://www.time4parties.co.uk/flyuk/1.JPG

[hobie]

well he certainly didn't reverse into it so he must have had a birds eye view of exactly what he was about to do to the poor xxxxxx aircraft :( :( :(

[mutt]

Where do they find these people..... :)



Mutt.

[NigelOnDraft]

Well... sorry... but a truck like that doesn't get under a 737 wing!

If the photo is genuine (?), then I reckon the truck's stuck under the wing of the Croatian (?) A319/320 wing....

NoD

[FlyUK]

Thats obviously what the truck driver thought!
The photo is genuine, i took it today at about 11am if i remember correctly. The photo is not that good a quality as i have reduced its size from the original for ease of uploading. I have about 6 of the incident as we passed by. The only reason i got to see it was that i was invited to visit ground ops for the day and was riding with the checker team. For those pilots who were operating around LHR today and saw the orange discovery pull up and take photos near to you, that was me.:O If any of the LHR ground ops team are on pprune then i thank them for a great visit. :ok: Its not everyday a student pilot manages to blag a ride around heathrow in the thick of the action.:)

[EGAC_Ramper]

Reminds me of the incident at EGAC when the de-icer took 2-3ft of the BMI A321's starboard elevator!!:sad: Aswell as that a mallaghan dented another A321 around the same period of time.Bad couple of weeks that was at EGAC with 2 A321's parked at EGAC awaiting repairs


AND NO IT WAS NOT ME DRIVING ON EITHER OCCASION


Regards

[NigelOnDraft]

By my reckoning, height of wingtip of A32x is ~14.5', and 737 is nearer 10.2'. I'd be surprised if that lorry was only 10' tall?

However, I may well be wrong?!*!

NoD

[EGAC_Ramper]

Looking at the pic closely,it does look like the truck is under the A320,going by the distinctive winglet.


Regards

[FlyUK]

I do agree with you guys that from the angle of the photo it looks as if it is under the busses wing, although if you look at the boundry of the 737, which is identified by the cones on the ground you will see the truck is well within them. Ie inside the wingtip area of the 737. Little bit of a photographic illusion. :p I was there, i saw it, i know what i saw, and i have no reason to lie. Can't prove it any other way though. So i guess you either believe it or not, not that i am really too fussed. Maybe it will remind people to drive around wing tip rather than try to go under them. ;)

[View From The Ground]

I guess that if the fire truck in the corner of the photo is anything to go by, then something definately happened here...Wonder who the van belongs to?

[onthebuses]

The lorry in question is a 7.5 tonner with a bit of a tall body on it..

The usual standard height is about 10' 6, this one is about 11' 6 so just that bit taller..

I have driven quite a few of these over the years, (non-airside) and IMO it looks like this driver has turned left into the a/c not giving enough swing as he or she turned.. You often see a simular thing on the roads when large vehicles don't take wide enough swing when turning and mount the kerb..

The nearside rear wheels being off the ground point to this being the case as well, the tip of the 73's wing looks as though it's lifting the lorry up.

I think this one could be quite easy to do because the driver would have been totally blind to the wing from his or her cabveiw and this is not really a very common type of overhead obsruction/overhang, having said that if he or she drives airside everyday then.......Doh!!

Trouble is, as long as you have held your car licence before Jan 97 you can drive this lorry on your ordinary car licence, so it could have been the 24 year old office clerk driving this lorry only ever had previously driven a Metro...



OTB:ok:


Waiting a loooooooooooooong list of vehicle types driven and a/c flown by all 24 yr old ppruners now:uhoh:

[Deske1]

hooohhhhh :uhoh:

Please dont bankrupt my airline!

I was with the same aircraft at LHR one day before.

This 737 has logged only about 500 hours.:\

[onthebuses]

Well Deskie1 if that does happen I recon there is going to be a vacancy for another 7.5 t Driver at LHR Jobcentre on Monday morning:E

OTB:ok:

[broadreach]

What a poser! Sorry, FlyUK, but perspective, the size of the winglet, the angle at which the truck's canted, all seem to indicate it wedged under the wing of the farthest aircraft, an A319(?). Not doubting you, but perhaps another photo would prove your point.

[NigelOnDraft]

The usual standard height is about 10' 6, this one is about 11' 6 so just that bit taller.. If so, then I'll withdraw my comments... I am obviously useless at estimating heights of lorries! These numbers figure quite closely with the height of a 737 wingtip.

FlyUk has PM'd me, assured me it is true, and was the 737, and given me links to the original pic, and other (similar ones). They are all from the same angle... However, none addressed my concern that a "large" lorry like that could get under a 737 wing. Guess I need some lorry recognition lessons!

NoD

[hobie]

surely there must have been a pprune'r on duty at LHR on the day in question who can confirm FlyUK's post .......

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[EGAC_Ramper]

I'm sure FlyUK would have no reason to lie ,fact is a plane got "bumped":rolleyes:

[FlyUK]

It was certainly a crowd puller, can't remember the stand but it was right next to a row of windows and everybody was looking out, especially when the firetrucks arrived! There was plenty of ground ops people taking photos so hopefully there's will come out better than mine! :( Very sad to see it just hanging off the side of the wing.

[mad_jock]

The reason why the lorry's back tyre is off the ground is that they were loading fuel at the time. The lorry gets wedged in and they continue to load. The aircraft will sink abit on its gear thus making the van lean over more. Only a theory like.

And high lorrys getting jammed can produce some amazing configurations of lorrys. I had to go and help at one where the driver had slammed the brakes on. The front dipped down and when it stopped the front leveled wedging it 3 ft under neithe the bridge. Took disconnecting the suspension bags and a 560 Unit to rip it out.

MJ

[FLR-PSA]

I really hope your theory is wrong Mad_Jock because if they continued to load fuel after a truck has driven into the wing then someone should be called to the bosses office!

[slingsby]

YEs, this is a quite true and accurate photgraph of a ground incident on stand 202 LHR. Nice viewing for a few seconds as we drove past.

[golfyankeesierra]

Wasn't there, but I think:
a) The"winglet" is not a winglet, it's an antenna on the bus.
b) Looking at the double APU exhaust the 737 is an NG, with a wider wingspan and a higher (!) wingtip than the NG.
c) The lorry was cutting the corner, so hit the wing sideways, with the sideforce tipping the lorry. As it's leaning to the right, it must have been Malev.
Ergo, to me the picture's not a fake.

[onthebuses]

No doubt this photo is genuine..

Why would flyuk make this up???. Money?? Fame???

NoD,

You wasn't far off with your estimates of the lorry though, it looks like the lorry has also lifted the wing slightly which is in turn lifting the lorry as well. It would have been a different story if the lorry hit the a/c at a different angle... Bit more mess to clean up, and most of it would have been wing/lorry remains..



OTB:ok:

[hobie]

must say, I can't see any Airbus in the photo ..... they both look like 737's to me .... a "NG" and perhaps an older 737 model ?

HA-LOK does have a high'ish wing tip but it seems impossible to find the dimension (all other dim's seem to be available on the web but not the tip height? :( :( :( )

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/601066/L/

[sheikandvac]

It was most definitely the Malev a/c.

I would suggest that until MUTT knows all the facts, it would be better not to speculate as to "where do they find these people"

For all He knows, the driver of the vehicle could be someone with many years experience, speculation based on the strength of one photo taken by someone who was having a day out, airside, at LHR helps no-one.

[onthebuses]

Silly things I have done while in control of a large vehicle.

1, Took a bus stop down using the r-send of a 7.5 tonner.
18 yrs old at the time. (No one under it at the time thank god!!)

2, Hit a skip using another 7.5t, was young again, looking at a group of girlies at the time- then..... BANG!!!

3, Took one of the trees on the A4 in Knighsbridge down in a incident simular to this one at LHR.. (Tree was over hanging)
Bit older this time.

4, Took a canopy for an office block reception down with a high top van.. At an age when I should have known better..

And then the most recent gem of ripping the front of the bus off every time I used to pull into the bus stop at Compass Centre, hence why the front near side bottom corner of all the buses on the BA1 are lightly smashed in... Makes loud crunch, just so every one within a 10 mile radus knows you got the approach wrong!! :=

But it wasn't me who took the Cranebank Barrier down, despite many offers of bribes (From both Flight and Cabin Crew) and much temptation.

Just a few happy memories of my 16 year driving career..

OTB:ok:

[hobie]

OTB ... we can see why you didn't take up flying as a career :p :p :p

:ok:

[onthebuses]

Yet...................... Can't wait till I'm scraping the tails of the flying buses...:E

OTB:ok:

[whirlycopter]

Definitely the Malev - I was booked on the flight, saw it happen whilst walking to the gate.

Flight was delayed about three hours whilst wing was inspected and the flight subsequently left for budapest, with me on board feeling unusually anxious....


But hey we made it!

[St Helens]

Several years ago I spent a day of days on the ramps of T1 & T2 with a BA Redcap while gaining information as to what they did. I was driven from gate to gate (due to distance and time involved) in a a beat up BA Ford Fiesta.
I asked what happens if you hit an a/c and was told in no uncertain terms that you could hit anything on the airport (and it looked like this vehicle had) but you must not hit the vehicles that fly. The lady told me that the company gets a bit funny about such things but did admit that it happens, mainly by tall vehicles cutting corners on the ramp and clipping wings or other vehicles such as baggage carts that then roll into the a/c and wedge themselves.
Well now I have seen the evidence - I bet the driver won't ask for a copy of this photo for his album.

St Helens :ok:

[The Claw]

I remember a time at JIA when the "stairs" vehicle drove up to a BA B747 and promptly removed the aircraft door!? Long delay, so BA charters a B747 from SAA. Catering truck jacks up and removes another door??????? PAX spend the night in JNB!

My favourite was when a domestic carrier, Flitestar, still operated. This airline had some stunning hosties. One loader would go onboard at every chance. One time he parks his truck and rush's upstairs. I will always remember the look on his face when he came down again and saw that his truck was not were he had left it! The hand- brake was off and the truck had rolled forward and imbedded itself into the side of the A320. Almost totalled the aircraft.:rolleyes:

[witchdoctor]

Hobie,

Definitely an Airbus in the background - look at the fairing on the main gear and the pronounced wing root. :8