El Al Boeing 777 grounded after door ripped off
 

Interesting. Has anybody got more info. Per article management has imposed a blackout on the incident and its causes.

http://new.globes.co.il/serveen/glob...706898&fid=942

El Al Boeing 777 grounded after door ripped off

A steward opened the door as the aircraft taxied before take-off.

Dror Marom 17 Jul 03 17:32

Sources inform “Globes” that an El Al steward caused a serious safety incident and severe damage to the airline’s new Boeing 777 plane earlier this week. El Al (TASE:ELAL) management has imposed a blackout on the incident and its causes.
The steward opened the plane’s door during the taxi prior to taking off from Ben Gurion Airport. The door hit a truck carrying the boarding stairs, which apparently had not moved far enough away from the plane, ripping the door of the fuselage. The captain was forced to abort the take-off.

The plane was grounded for three days for repairs and testing for airworthiness. El Al had to order a new door from Boeing (NYSE:BA). In addition to the direct cost of the damage, indirect costs to El Al include the grounding of the plane at the height of the tourist season.

El Al CEO Amos Shapiro said in response, “The plane’s door hit the boarding stairs and was ripped off. We did not report the incident, since safety was unaffected and there was no risk to the passengers. We don’t like such incidents that affect our flight schedule.”

El Al has set up an team to investigate the incident and report its findings to the CEO.

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 17, 2003

I'm perplexed.

I thought that the stairs would be in front of a wing or a stab and that regardless of whether the door was opened or not that the stairs would be likely hit by a taxying airplane if they were not removed entirely.

This doesn't make sense in its present translation.

I am confused as well. Why, when the door has been ripped off during taxying (apparently), would any sane pilot attempt to take off. I only say this as the original post claims the pilots aborted the takeoff. All sounds very fishy to me. What is the real story. This one makes no sense.:confused:

Probably happened just like the one on a BA 777 at EGKK a couple of years ago. Forget taxying ( journo rubbish ? ) most likely cause is driving away the steps before closure of the door and catching part of it. Makes a fine mess ......the BA one was left dangling on the integral chains !.......funniest thing was that when the SLF were being offloaded , some were questioning as to why "their plane" could not depart !!! := := :=

Dumb question here: I know a truck is heavy, but a door is pretty strong too. Might not the door just push the truck over instead?

Less dumb question: Dont all the doors hinge on the front? So if the truck WAS in the way, wouldn't it just close the door like if you drove into the garage with your car door open :rolleyes:

Quote

El Al CEO Amos Shapiro said in response, “The plane’s door hit the boarding stairs and was ripped off. We did not report the incident, since safety was unaffected and there was no risk to the passengers. We don’t like such incidents that affect our flight schedule.?

Unquote

I'm confused. This incident is exactly safety concerned! Some mishap on cockpit/cabin/ground personnel communications. should regard this as future essential crew training material.

Omigod. Hitting the absolute bottom of the speculation barrel here. Thanks Cirrus for about the only plausible scenario.

Translation from "journo-rubbish" (Good one cirrus01!!!)

Aircraft at boarding stairs (not jetway).

Just prior to pushback from mobile stairs, Flt Attdt either closes door late, reopens door due to something blocking door, or believes the stairs are back up to the aircraft and the agent wants to hand some last minute paperwork to the crew and thus reopens the door (after the pilot had checked all doors secure). Combined with a too-close airstairs, the fragile door mechanism gets munched by airstair contact during aircraft movement.

"The captain was forced to abort the take-off. " Translation: The pilot aborted the flight right at the gate. Further translation: We be broke.

(Gee, my story isn't nearly as exciting as the journo-rubbish.)

Estimated cost to El Al not counting lost revenue? A bunch.

In SFO years back, a jetway auto leveler went gonzo and picked up a 737 by its front entry door. Back then, the door was $100K as was the kit to reinstall it. My guess, a spiffy new 777 door is probably three times that much. DOH!

PT




:ok:

Totally confused.

A/C not at a gate with a bridge apparently.

In my experience when using mobile stairs or anything else mobile up against A/C - these items are removed and when confirmed clear - then taxi or push/pull commences.

rt, I think the consensus is that the airplane was not moving. Could be either journo rubbish or translation problem, Cirrus' post above seems the most likely explanation, not surprised LY has imposed a 'blackout'. Ooops :\

If I recall correctly, ten years ago I heard a Boeing salesman say that the B777 had doors that would be more easily ripped off than any other Boeing produced at that time... without putting the safety at risk of course.

I think the idea was to have a "clean cut" in case of trouble with the stairs, bridge, finger, etc. If the door is damaged anyway, let's trash it properly and rip it off: in the end it'll make the fixing job easier.

Stratocaster makes much sense... if you think ripping off a door is expensive, try bending the frame at the hinge attachment body stations...

R1