KLM investigates how Tuesday a Boeing 747-400 could collide with a truck that is used for de-icing of aircraft. The Boeing 747-400 began taxiing while an employee of the de icingtruck was still present de-icing the plane. The de-icing vehicle tipped, and the man fell inflicting heavy injuries.
After the accident a trauma helicopter carried the injured man to the hospital. According to KLM, the condition of the victim 'stable'.
The Boeing 747 became damaged by the collision and is in the hangar for repair. KLM Wednesday made no further announcements regarding the nature and extent of the damage to the Boeing 747-400.
On the plane 240 passengers were present. The Boeing would leave for St. Maarten and Curaçao. There was a delay of 4.5 hours before the passangers could continue their journey.
(Thanks to Google Translate)
===== AMSTELVEEN - KLM onderzoekt hoe een Boeing 747-400 dinsdagmorgen kon botsen met een truck die wordt gebruik voor het ijsvrij maken van vliegtuigen. Het toestel begon dinsdag op het platform te taxiën terwijl een medewerker van de de-icingtruck nog aanwezig was. Het voertuig kantelde, waarbij de man zwaar ten val kwam. Wat zijn verwondingen zijn, is onduidelijk.
Na het ongeval waren hulpverleners snel ter plaatse. Ook werd een traumahelikopter opgeroepen. Volgens KLM is de toestand van het slachtoffer ‘stabiel’.
De Boeing 747 raakte door de botsing beschadigd en is voor reparatie naar de hangar gereden. Over de aard en omvang van de schade wil KLM woensdag (1 december) geen mededelingen doen.
In het vliegtuig waren 240 passagiers aanwezig. De Boeing zou vertrekken naar Sint Maarten en Curaçao. Met een vervangend toestel kon de vlucht met een vertraging van 4,5 uur alsnog vertrekken.
This accident happened in front of our eyes as we were next in line. I had the KLM COO at the time on board and I requested him to come to the flight deck. We were all shocked at what had happened.
The report from the Transport Safety Board of Canada is very accurate report; however I am missing a recommendation.
Make deicing and communications a SOP at all airports worldwide so there can be no misunderstandings.
For those of us who are flying in the Northern hemisphere it may be a frequent event for others not. In adverse weather there are several extra things to check, like take of alternates available, take off performance calculations for contaminated runways etc. If on top of that you have to familiarize with the local deicing procedures and communications this could be too much and lead to accidents and incidents.
Well I hope somebody will read this and finds it worthwhile to work this out, I go back to the garden picking olives who are very early this year in the Provence.
Before jumping to conclusions and blaming the flight crew, keep in mind that it is just as likely that they were given permission to taxi before it was safe to do so. Accidents are caused by a number of factors, and this one will be studied and learned from.
I was de-iced @ AMS this morning, on the remote de-icing pad West of the terminal.
The radio equipment that the de-icing coordinator was using was of very poor quality, and barely readable. When we told him so he said it had been reported before, and was being looked into.
Another issue is the procedure requiring you to keep the ground frequency on stand by. With all the calls on ground, you may not hear the de-icing coordinator. This caused a misunderstanding between us and the coordinator. Not that we were about to taxi without being sure they were clear with this incident fresh on our minds, but still.
If even KLM crew are not up to date with deicing comms procedures at their home base who would be?
Poor show.
@ Piton
Rumor in the company is that the 74 crew got the all clear signal! Unfortunately the deicer was not out of the way!
Just rumor inside the company, investigation will have to determine what really happened, but, for somebody to make assumptions on the KLM crew......very poor show indeed.
I'll venture a personal assumption: the level of intelligence of people posting on this board is going down dramatically(poor show on my part????)
Rumor in the company is that the 74 crew got the all clear signal! Unfortunately the deicer was not out of the way!
Just rumor inside the company, investigation will have to determine what really happened, but, for somebody to make assumptions on the KLM crew......very poor show indeed.
I'll venture a personal assumption: the level of intelligence of people posting on this board is going down dramatically(poor show on my part????)
What's your problem? Rumours are rumours, even at KLM where you guys apparently don't make mistakes. Your post doesn't contribute much either. Keep it factual and I am sure the allegation wasn't addressed at you personally and possibly a harmless shot from the hip.
Correndon landed on rwy22 in ams, almost hell broke loose.
Everytime Ryan does something "different", they got attacked.
Some carriers are banned from flying into EU cause of their english..(and correctly!)
BUT, KLM cannot even find the runway to take off from from their homebase! And now they turn the ship and knock a fellow worker in hospital, again on homebase.........
flyburg, my comment was a follow on to Good Memories comment that "If on top of that you have to familiarize with the local deicing procedures and communications this could be too much and lead to accidents and incidents."
For the klm crew this was a home game. If on the other hand, as you suggest, the ground crew gave an erroneous "all clear" then the poor show was theirs. Either way not a good result for the lowlanders.....
I kind of like the idea of moving the truck in front of the plane, and waving back and forth until both understand that the it's all done, then the pilots can watch the truck drive away.
If anyone is in a position to propose this, it might not be a bad idea.
I kind of like the idea of moving the truck in front of the plane, and waving back and forth until both understand that the it's all done, then the pilots can watch the truck drive away.
A nice idea in principle but logistics get a bit complex if there's a lot of aircraft being de-iced and more than one truck doing it.
(Two trucks / cherry-pickers involved in the RAM incident if I remember correctly)
Ok, so it's a flag that's as tall as the flight deck, or twice as tall with flags up and down the pole, on a heavy base that won't blow over, and each unit puts one in front of the plane.
Confirmation of message received. If there are comm problems, you swap out the ground-based VHF. I'm fairly sure the cost of one of those bits is but a small fraction of just one application of the de-ice juice. Also, I've seen handhelds on the tarmac for other purposes. Why not here?
I am not implying we're all perfect by the way. Accidents/incidents are bound to happen given the tens of thousands of movements daily.
Post the Anchorage fatality, I now make / ensure is made an extra RT call "Please confirm all Gnd Eqpt is clear". Our QRH does not really emphasise this point, and it can end with the "Eqpt Remove" line merging with he "De-Icing Report" requirement, who can be different people.
Judging by the confusion from my colleagues at my request, it is not a common call made? I doubt a robust SOP can be made to cover all the different airfields / de/anti ice requirements, aircraft types, airlines. However, as this and other accident shows, it is a useful "bottom line" for the aircrew.
I kind of like the idea of moving the truck in front of the plane, and waving back and forth until both understand that the it's all done, then the pilots can watch the truck drive away.
If anyone is in a position to propose this, it might not be a bad idea.
There are a few airports, in Germany and elsewhere, where one of the trucks drives around to the front of the aircraft with a nice big, easy-to-read sign with the de-icing code on it (ie. Start/Stop times, Product, mix ratio). Always clearer than radio, and good confirmation the process is complete.
BUT, KLM cannot even find the runway to take off from from their homebase! And now they turn the ship and knock a fellow worker in hospital, again on homebase.........
Offensive comments such as really have no place on a forum such as this. All departments of KLM take safety really seriously and believe me, many people will be having sleepless nights over this incident. Not because they are fearing for their jobs but because they will be thinking about what they could have done to stop this from happening in the first place. If I'm to speculate, I'll suggest that the OVV will investigate this accident and the results will be published so we can all learn.
Personally, I just wish the poor guy concerned a speedy recovery.
