Ed Force One - Iron Maiden's B747 damaged on the ground in SCEL
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Absolutely right, the handlers communications with the brake man is more than likely been brakes off / brakes on hand signals. Certainly was for the tow operation I was involved with as a brakeman on Thursday around LBA.
From the Iron Maiden Facebook page:
ED FORCE ONE BADLY DAMAGED ON THE GROUND IN COMODORO ARTURO MERINO BENITEZ (SANTIAGO, CHILE) AIRPORT
CONCERTS IN ARGENTINA TOMORROW AND TUESDAY EXPECTED TO GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
Ed Force One was this morning tethered to a tow truck to be taken for refuelling prior to flying over the Andes to Cordoba for the next show. On moving the steering pin that is part of the mechanism that connects the ground tug to the aircraft seemingly fell out. On making a turn the aircraft had no steering and collided with the ground tug badly damaging the undercarriage, two of the aircrafts engines and injuring two ground tug operators, both of whom have been taken to hospital. We hope of course that they make a full and speedy recovery and we will be closely monitoring their progress. The flight engineers are on site and evaluating the damage, but their initial report is that the engines have suffered large damage and will require an extended period of maintenance and possibly two new engines.
We are currently making contingency arrangements to get to the show in Cordoba tomorrow with band, crew and equipment intact. Fortunately the 20 tons of equipment had not been loaded onto EF1 at the time of the accident. Although this is tragic for our beautiful plane we do not expect this to affect our concert schedule including the next 2 shows in Cordoba and Buenos Aires. And we hope to find a new Ed Force One to continue this adventure with us in the near future. We will keep everyone updated when we know more, so keep checking only on this site for official news.
Further updated:
We are happy to tell our fans in Cordoba that our Killer Krew has sorted out all logistics for us to be there with our full show for you all tomorrow. We expect no disruption to the tour in any way and are looking for a replacement 747 Ed Force One while our current beauty is healed. More news on that later. Until then, believe me, we will get to you all on this tour one way or another wherever you are.
We are also delighted to say that we have been officially informed that the two Chilean airport staff who were injured following the malfunction of the tow truck connecting bolt will make a complete recovery. Best wishes to them and their families.
ED FORCE ONE BADLY DAMAGED ON THE GROUND IN COMODORO ARTURO MERINO BENITEZ (SANTIAGO, CHILE) AIRPORT
CONCERTS IN ARGENTINA TOMORROW AND TUESDAY EXPECTED TO GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
Ed Force One was this morning tethered to a tow truck to be taken for refuelling prior to flying over the Andes to Cordoba for the next show. On moving the steering pin that is part of the mechanism that connects the ground tug to the aircraft seemingly fell out. On making a turn the aircraft had no steering and collided with the ground tug badly damaging the undercarriage, two of the aircrafts engines and injuring two ground tug operators, both of whom have been taken to hospital. We hope of course that they make a full and speedy recovery and we will be closely monitoring their progress. The flight engineers are on site and evaluating the damage, but their initial report is that the engines have suffered large damage and will require an extended period of maintenance and possibly two new engines.
We are currently making contingency arrangements to get to the show in Cordoba tomorrow with band, crew and equipment intact. Fortunately the 20 tons of equipment had not been loaded onto EF1 at the time of the accident. Although this is tragic for our beautiful plane we do not expect this to affect our concert schedule including the next 2 shows in Cordoba and Buenos Aires. And we hope to find a new Ed Force One to continue this adventure with us in the near future. We will keep everyone updated when we know more, so keep checking only on this site for official news.
Further updated:
We are happy to tell our fans in Cordoba that our Killer Krew has sorted out all logistics for us to be there with our full show for you all tomorrow. We expect no disruption to the tour in any way and are looking for a replacement 747 Ed Force One while our current beauty is healed. More news on that later. Until then, believe me, we will get to you all on this tour one way or another wherever you are.
We are also delighted to say that we have been officially informed that the two Chilean airport staff who were injured following the malfunction of the tow truck connecting bolt will make a complete recovery. Best wishes to them and their families.
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Why would you design such a system? I've been asking myself why Boeing would do that for more than 30 years. And they kept it with the -8! Reason prevailed with the triple, however. Commonality issues with the 747?
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When you consider the amount of 747's that are being tugged around globally every day.... I stop to wonder why this particular one had this particular accident... One question that springs to mind is how often, does santiago have to deal with 747's, is it rare for them to be there and as such was there a lack of familiarity in moving the type and dealing with any perculiarities in moving the model.... second, due to the high profile nature of this particular aircraft.... Was everybody focussed on the job, or were the ground crew busy using cameraphones and tweeting/instergramming/facebooking to their friends?
Or, is this type of incident quiete common, but just under-reported?
Or, is this type of incident quiete common, but just under-reported?
Thought police antagonist
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" Why are nosewheel steering lockout pins used at all?
I flew the Fokker 100 and they just had a switch. Unlikely for that to fall out isn't it.
True, but equally more likely to fail in comparison to a large robust lump of metal, albeit a glorified pip-pin.
Having towed 747's, as an engineer on the F/D, with the 1/2 /300 series, there were always two upstairs, one sat at the F/E's panel and another in the Capt's seat.
The view from the cockpit is limited to say the least, in comparison to other types, because the 747 tow bar is very compact and hence the tug is underneath the aircraft. Hand signals were more than sufficient from the tug crew however.
I will admit that, I have witnessed engineers take a very cavalier and indifferent approach to operating the brakes....the worst being when one let his ten year old son effectively perform the operation, not on a 747 I hasten to add. Others sat there with their feet on the combing and just assume "all will be well". As ever, much depends on the operator and professional standards of the engineer.
As for the pin location, true, it's not the best design and this was remedied with the 757/767 with a large handle added in addition to the pin installed vertically.
Regarding this incident however, as with all accidents and incidents, lets wait for the report shall we.
And my sympathies go out to the tug crew for a full recovery as well as to the engineers involved.
I flew the Fokker 100 and they just had a switch. Unlikely for that to fall out isn't it.
True, but equally more likely to fail in comparison to a large robust lump of metal, albeit a glorified pip-pin.
Having towed 747's, as an engineer on the F/D, with the 1/2 /300 series, there were always two upstairs, one sat at the F/E's panel and another in the Capt's seat.
The view from the cockpit is limited to say the least, in comparison to other types, because the 747 tow bar is very compact and hence the tug is underneath the aircraft. Hand signals were more than sufficient from the tug crew however.
I will admit that, I have witnessed engineers take a very cavalier and indifferent approach to operating the brakes....the worst being when one let his ten year old son effectively perform the operation, not on a 747 I hasten to add. Others sat there with their feet on the combing and just assume "all will be well". As ever, much depends on the operator and professional standards of the engineer.
As for the pin location, true, it's not the best design and this was remedied with the 757/767 with a large handle added in addition to the pin installed vertically.
Regarding this incident however, as with all accidents and incidents, lets wait for the report shall we.
And my sympathies go out to the tug crew for a full recovery as well as to the engineers involved.
Sb SFO
to clarify with the coms, the aircraft and the tug would both be in contact with ATC but the aircraft and the tug would probably not be in contact with each other. this is certainly not uncommon in Europe, I am sure there would have been coms during the pushback but possibly not in the tow.
to clarify with the coms, the aircraft and the tug would both be in contact with ATC but the aircraft and the tug would probably not be in contact with each other. this is certainly not uncommon in Europe, I am sure there would have been coms during the pushback but possibly not in the tow.
Comms between flight deck and ground crew through hand signals.
That's the only way I have known it done at most airports I have worked in UK and Europe.
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to insert the pin from below.
747 tow bars have two shear pins. If both break, yes, you can drive away quickly. If one shear pin breaks, and the tug driver is not driving at reckless speeds around corners, then gentle braking should bring the aircraft to a halt (with the aircraft still attached).
Tug driver communicates with tower. Brake rider on board may be monitoring the frequency but doesn't get involved.
Comms between flight deck and ground crew through hand signals.
Comms between flight deck and ground crew through hand signals.
Comms were required between the people downstairs and upstairs in case there was an urgent issue, such as an APU fire during the tow.
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I may have been a little rough on you Europeans with your towbarless tugs and all. In my neck of the woods, most airline tows are done that way, with radios in the tugs. The ground handlers such as Swissport here don't have fancy stuff like this, and certainly don't have radios. I suspect much the same down south. Ad-hoc charters tend to use whoever is available on the airfield, and the results can be interesting.
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Quite a few 747Fs go through SCL as well.
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We had either headsets with long leads (sometimes plugged into the tug intercom system depending on where we were riding on the tug) or wireless headsets.. plus walkie talkies and hand signals as back up.
Comms were required between the people downstairs and upstairs in case there was an urgent issue, such as an APU fire during the tow.
Comms were required between the people downstairs and upstairs in case there was an urgent issue, such as an APU fire during the tow.
All I could do was apologise most profusely to the Tower ATC who were understandably quite p*ssed.
