Tug incident LEPA 24/09/2020
 

I was a pax on a Thomson flight back from LEPA to EGCC the captain told everyone to take their seats quickly as if we missed our slot there would be a 2 hour delay. The tug hit the aircraft (767) with an almighty bang and rocked it backwards pax screamed. Had to get a thomson flight engineer to check nose gear out obviously okayed it. Strangely enough we departed immediatly after the incident which took about 30 mins to sort

Blimey, can you see into the future?

Great Crystal Ball you got there mate, telling the future more or less 10 yrs in advance :D any chance you could drop me a PM with the winning numbers for next Fridays Euromillions draw ? ;)

Edited to say- beaten to the draw by Hotel Tango, Oh well, no one else noticed (or cared ) for an hour & 30, note to self, don't be a saddo, drink more! :rolleyes:

You have thus seen the reason why ailines board their passengers as per normal when there is a delayed slot. There can be changes in air traffic flow rates creating more slots and other aircraft may have to cancel their departures thus making their previous slot available to others. This can all happen at only a few minutes notice. Aircraft with their pax on board can take advantage of this. Those that leave their pax in the terminal will find that it takes about 30 minutes to board and thus miss out on any short notice slot improvements.

and ?.......

Are you sure there was a collision?

More likely, the tug started pushing with the aircraft parking brake on. That can create a hell of a bang.

It was probably the frangible link in the tow bar breaking (which does usually happen if the crew apply brakes while being pushed, or the truck tries to push with the park brake still set.). It can also just let go because it's getting a bit old. Quick inspection to see if the nose gear was hit by the tow bar, and off you go. (After all, it's specifically designed to break in order to prevent damage to the aircraft.) Not usual, but not unknown, either.

Move along, nothing to see here.

Nice to see that the Flight Engineers are kept busy on the 767 at times ............ ;)

Better breaking the weak link than jacknifing the tug through the engines or props. That really does cause you to miss your slot:uhoh: