Originally Posted by
andrasz
I would presume that the Asiana crew did not fail to see the 321 (they were probably following it as it turned into the parking bay), but thy certainly failed to appreciate that its tail was still sticking out. No trying to defend anyone but it is rather dificult to sense from the rear when passing a parked aircraft whether its tail is inside or outside the marking painted on the apron several metres below, and with the wingtip not readily visible from the cockpit on a 773 they must have assumed (grave error!) that the 321 continued to the gate, especially if they had a taxi clearance. A rather likely contributing factor was the new apron layout (all taxiways now uni-directional since last summer) which can result in rather rengthy delays to/from some parking positions, having to wait for 5-6 departing aircraft ahead to be pushed back and start up, a very frustrating experience (once we stopped/started with engines running for 45 minutes after landing before we could reach our designated gate...). I can well relate to the sensation of the taxiway finally freeing up ahead...
we are not talking a meter or two. It appears the A321 tail was at least 15 maybe 20 meters over the safe line.