BA towing mishap
 

BA have damaged G BNLE B747 400 in a towing incident at LHR on Friday afternoon. Mind you they may have tried to hush it up because the airport authority were not told until 3 hours after the event !!

A B777 was stopped at the Eastchurch crossing waiting for the gates to open on its way to the base when LE which was towing behind it failed to stop.

The nose went straight through APU of the B777.

The aircrafts a mess with a massive hole from the nose cone up to the cockpit window.and reports are that cost of repair is 2 1/2 million quid . Apparantly it punctured the bulk head because the 1st class cabin is not as it should be.



An expensive mistake


:mad:

The towbarless tug appears to have had yet another brake failure
Was the cockpit brake man in the 747 awake?
Was there pressure in the Nbr 4 system?
Was the brakeman a skilled engineer or another 'approved person'with 5 minutes training.
I'm sure the insurance company will sort it out.any pictures?

Probably no APU running to save money and why start it to pressurize the the Accumulator (it'll be all right), I can think of two other instances where the tow bar broke and this sort of thing happened.

Poor man in the cockpit was trying to start the APU in a hurry I bet. :eek:

Just one small point, TBL (towbarless) tractors do not have anybody in the flt. deck.

If it happend at the crossing, the CCTV must have caught it in all its glory...and the aftermath

Now that would be one for the "You've been framed" TV show:D

towbarless tractors do require a (wo)man in the cockpit
the brakes must be set during the 'pickup' and during the parking after the tow
kind of weird if he gets out the seat during the pull

were th aaib informed more to the point if not that is an offence and 939 and nasty stuff follows

Got to agree with Gaspath on this one...

The BA ATP dosent require any one on board when using a Towbarless tug... That after all is why they use it to save on manpower costs.

As long as the A/C is chocked its ok.

Will double check and confirm tomorrow.

LP

or perhaps nobody on the tug or the 747 noticed a tiny 777 stopped in front of them ;)

Oooops!

BA do NOT require anyone on the flightdeck when being towed by Towbarless tractors.

Generally the a/c are parked with the brakes off and chocked so that the tuggies can pick-up and move it at any time.

As for the AAIB or the delay in informing the BAA, if the accident happened in a BA maintenance area then there is no real need to involve either.

sorry then
 

worked a while at Schiphol with KLM's aircraft towing dept
they did require a brake driver at the helm upstairs, also to put the beacon on once moving, surprised BA doesn't

mainecoon & JetII

Dont think the AAIB need be involved in this.

Extract from the regualations in the AAIB web site :-

"accident" means an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked.

Tea & biccies for someone !

SP

Seem to remember that when BA started this towbarless tugging at LGW, not only did they not have anyone on the flight deck, but at night there was no requirement to have lights on the towed aircraft, relying on the tugs revolving yellows to notify anyone else of the combination.

In the dark, coming up behind, it was very difficult to see. Don't know if this still happens.

Sonds like the ANO is being breached then:confused:

Perhaps it was done out of spite?

Yes AAIB will be involved.

Yes but then which organisation regulates matters relating to the ANO?

And which organisation thus will not want to upset it's biggest paying customer?

krisskross: I don't know about now, but up until end of November last year when I was still with VS, BA were still towing aircraft around LHR with no beacons on save for the one on the tug.

Well they're not now. Beacons on and nav lights at night now.

Panman, don't beacons signify 'engines running', not just aircraft moving (by whatever means)?

Enough guff - where's the photos??

Actually No the ANO was not being breached because the tugs were exempt having more flashy lights (if you pardon the pun), to make up for the nav lights off. Agree with the others, BA didnt use anyone in the flight deck so had to ensure the a/c was chocked prior to and after towing with park brake left off. Sounded dodgy and didnt agree with it, but told to do it nevertheless
Cheers