Reasons for Delay
 

Please forgive an outsider intruding and if this the incorrect forum please feel free to move this thread.

My question relates to aircraft departure delays. Why is it that so often we passengers are given the reason for the delay as 'damage caused to the aircraft by a baggage handlers trolley'? I have experienced this a couple of times myself and yesterday a very lengthy delay to a TCD flight from MAN/MCO was also being blamed on such damage.

I cannot believe that the drivers of these trolleys are so incompetent and I was once told by ground crew that this was a coverall excuse used to cover any eventuality. So what is the real truth guys? Are passengers not worthy of being told the real reason for their delayed flight? We'd love to know.

Working in ops and also having worked out on the ramp
if a baggage trolley trashes an a/c, then a delay is almost inevitable, at least whilst engineers assess the damage and to see if it's within limits to depart.
I doubt very much if any reputable carrier would trawl out this excuse to "cover up" any other delays.
Could show you the photos of various damaged a/c that have argued with a baggage loader.
In fact, we've got a a member of our crewing staff who, in his younger days on the ramp, drove a loader into an Air Malta a/c, grounding it for 24hours...He made the front page of the local rag.

I can. Seen it happen many of times.

Trouble is that baggage trolleys, don’t have individual brakes and when they are not attached to a tug the wind catches them and they become missiles on the ramp...

The damage this can have to an a/c skin, which is only a couple of millimetres thick can take sometime to repair... Sometimes the damage can be immense when a spar section (a/c frame) is struck..

Most baggage trolleys DO have brakes, which are applied by tilting the towbar hook up, and it locks in place. Sometimes they do tend to go U/S though.........

Most rampies should use the 'six foot rule', which means that anything approaching within 6ft of the a/c should be marshalled by a banksman or manhandled into position.

It is likely that the baggage trolley was being pulled in close to the hold, and someone misjudged the turn radius or the momentum of the cart.

More speed, less haste needed.

IATA has actually set a goal of one of it's safety initiatives to reduce the ramp damages by 10% (sounds like nothing but has a hugue impact), knowing that this is an abitious goal.

I'm surprised your airline was so honest. Usually 'operational' reasons is given as the coverall excuse.

Yes, damage to aircraft (and ocassionally the squishy carbon life forms around them) is very common, and it would appear that according to a recent survey, the accident rate amongst airline employees is higher than that of miners and one of the highset in all industries. The ramp is a dangerous place.