the key factor in this case, as in several similar, is CONTRACT workers from an outside company. The airline's safety culture isn't applicable to outside, unlicensed employees.
NYC07LA121"...while at SYR, contract ramp personnel ... loaded the baggage for the flight...
"... the contractor’s ground agents ... The senior ... decided to use a luggage tug to push the belt loader away ... with the ... tug from ... the upper right-hand side of the tug’s cab contacted the fuselage. The senior ground agent [contract labor] then advised “don’t say anything” ..."
More CONTRACT [ramp]
damage:
From the _P-I_:
5Jan06 at SeaTac, Menzies
contract ramp services
******* Press Rpts ********
"Safety review planned after another Alaska Airlines plane damaged
"The
company responsible for Alaska Airlines
ramp services at Sea-Tac Airport is bringing in a team of safety experts for a 90-day “top-to-bottom” review of its operations there after another of the airline’s jets was damaged in a ground incident Thursday [5Jan06]....
"... the
second such incident by
an employee of Menzies Aviation in 10 days...."
"... jet’s right engine cowling hit the baggage loading machine, she said, and the passenger entry door on the left side of the plane hit the jetway...
"...Alaska hired the British firm
Menzies Aviation to provide baggage handling and other
ramp services at Sea-Tac Airport in May 2005 after laying off nearly 500 unionized ramp workers. Alaska said the move
would save it about $13 million a year...."
"... a series of ramp incidents have focused attention on the work being done by those Menzies employees at Sea-Tac. The most
serious mishap occurred Dec. 26. That day, an Alaska Airlines
MD-80 headed for Burbank, Calif., experienced a
sudden loss of cabin pressure at 26,000 feet. After an emergency dive to lower altitude, the jet returned to Sea-Tac Airport, where
a foot-long hole was found in its fuselage. The next day,
a Menzies employee admitted that he accidentally
hit the jet with a baggage loading machine and
did not report the incident ..."
Safety review planned after another Alaska Airlines plane damaged
IDENTIFICATION Regis#: 625AS Make/Model: B737 ...
Date: 01/05/2006 Time: 2030 ...
Event Type: Incident ...
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: SEATTLE State: WA Country: US
DESCRIPTION
N625AS, AN ALASKA AIRLINES, ASA808, BOEING 737 ACFT, WHILE PARKED AT THE GATE, TUG PULLED FORWARD SCRATCHED THE FUSELAGE, NO INJURIES REPORTED, SEATTLE, WA
SEA06LA033... A new (approximately one week on the job) ground baggage handler, who was driving a tug towing a train of baggage carts, ... but had to maneuver around another train of carts to get close to the belt loader. ... After loading the carts with baggage, he attempted to drive away. He said that he turned the tug's wheels as far as possible. He stated, "I was hoping to make it out, but I felt my tug going against something. ... glanced at the body [in moderate rain] of the aircraft to see if there was any damage. It was a quick glance and I did not see any damage." He said two other ground personnel came to assist him in maneuvering his tug away from the airplane. He did not report the incident to anyone.
... the probable cause...: The ground personnel baggage handler failed to maintain clearance from the aircraft with cargo handling equipment during ground operations and inadvertently damaged the airplane's pressure bulkhead which subsequently decompressed during climb to cruise.
Note that in the above case [26Dec05] the NTSB
failed to mention the element of CONTRACT LABOR, and the lack of any link with the airline's strict safety culture.