China Airlines 747F damages two engines at ORD
 

With a dozen or more containers as collateral damage ...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2e85497c24.jpg

ADS-B track would suggest it diverged by about 45 m from the taxiway across the SE Cargo Ramp at O'Hare on arrival.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/...lane-at-ohare/

If the video is normal speed, that crew was taxiing way too fast given the conditions…notice the cargo can getting injested into the #1 Engine. Wow

I suspect that the video is showing the event very "speeded up". The time between the two flashes of the top and bottom red flashing beacons is 12.3 seconds in the video, where other videos I find of B747 beacons appear to show the beacon flash period to be just over a second. So the video is maybe ten times actual speed?

Approx 16 kts at the point where it left the twy centreline, 13 kts at impact, per ADS-B.

There is a time stamp in the upper left corner and the seconds counter seems normal.

Yes, I agree. I also note that although the flash rate of the 747 beacons seems unusually slow on the video, the flash rate of the ramp vehicles seems normal. My mind is open about the speed of the video, and thus the speed of the 747....

This is a video (taken probably on a phone) of the display screen showing a replay of a timestamped security camera video with a frame rate of probably around 10 fps, which is then adjusted for real time playback (normal video is 30 fps). The aircraft appears stopped at the beginning because the replay is paused. The short beacon flashes are not captured with the original slow frame rate, but the relative motion paths are real. You can see it on the motion of the reversing tug at the end. There was also a snow plough right ahead which also starts reversing before disappearing behind the aircraft. Agree with the initial assessment, way too fast for the given conditions, though I'd argue it was not the speed that mattered in his case. Doubt that tea and biscuits will be offered...

Taxiing like a rally driver. Expensive mistake

There is a considerable upslope off S2 into the ramp (see video) and he appeared to be nose high staring into the lights with little or no visibility under the nose and snow covered taxiway markings. Probably had a handful of thrust to get up the slope and the aircraft ran away with them .... if it was 12 knots it would be way too fast under these conditions. Nose wheel might have had little traction with snow and coming off slope and abrupt or excessive tiller would easily have lost any traction that it did have. Body gear activation would have made it worse. Park brake set and tow truck might have been a good option. Easy to say after the event.

Taking all into account it looks normal speed to me. There is significant 'barreling' of the image due to a rather wide angle lens hence the horizon appears to drop away the further you go way from the centre.

Normal for a dry taxiway on a clear day...

I think he was talking about the video speed, not the aircraft speed....

The last frames show a service vehicle rapidly reversing and hitting some containers. Hard to blame the rampie in urgent survival mode.

Looking at the liked news article “Cargo truck collided with plane”

huh? That’s like saying tree collided with car wrt to this incident.

My guess……..it was not the snow that was particularly slippery. I suspect that there was smooth ice that had formed at the gate at some point, perhaps very recently. Then snow fell on top of it. Meanwhile, the taxiways were mostly snow over pavement. Therefore, minimal issues while taxiing on a route with several turns leading to a false sense of security and the assumption that the parking area was the same.

Reports here in The States are saying the pilot mistook the taxiway edge lines for the taxiway centerline.

Looking at the crime scene, I find that rather unlikely. For one, no edge lights only centerline lighting for twy crossing the apron...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9d1d223178.jpg

The 747 is one of the few widebodies where you can see your wingtips from the cockpit window. In fact if you plonk your cheek on the glass you can see number one engine too. In a tight spot you can always use that secret look out the window technique. Coupled with slowing down there is no need to vacuum up half the airport.

In a big aircraft like the 747 there's no way pilot can judge his position accurately by putting his cheek to the window. All that is necessary is to be at safe speed to avoid skid and correctly positioned on the centre line. For a sharp turn, with landing gear 95ft behind pilot has to go well past the centre line before turning, may be he went too far ahead and got on the edge instead the centre line.

Here is a plot of the path the 747 took on the taxiway. Obviously he was confused, and coupled with snow covering most of the taxiway markings you can see what may have caused this accident.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4e21be1bf.jpeg