Taxiing airliner hit parked plane at foggy airport
Both aircraft damaged in incident at East Midlands Airport
TWO Boeing 737 passenger jets collided on the ground at East Midlands Airport amid confusion in the control tower caused by thick fog.
The accident, at about 7.30am on April 30 this year, saw the wing of a taxiing Ryanair plane clip the tail of a Jet2 airliner sitting in a parking bay.
Neither of the planes was carrying passengers at the time. However, the potential seriousness of the incident led to an urgent safety review.
Air safety body the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the Ryanair plane, a 737-700 (EI-SEV) with two flight crew on board, was taxiing towards the airport’s central apron - the area where planes are parked - having arrived from Stansted Airport and its passengers having disembarked.
The Jet2 737-300 (G-GDFB) was parked up and empty.
An accident report by the AAIB stated: “EI-SEV was taxiing to park on Stand 22 at East Midlands Airport and the routing passed behind G-GDFB on stand 24.
“As EI-SEV passed behind G-GDFB, its winglet struck the other aircraft’s right horizontal stabiliser.”
Jason Gwynn, who was at the airport aircraft at the time, sent in photographs.
He said the wing tip of the Ryanair plane could be seen “stuck under” the tail of the Jet2 aircraft on the airport apron.
The Castle Donington airport was operating under low visibility procedures on account of the thick fog.
The visibility range on the ground was about 350 yards at best.
However, due to the poor weather and their elevated position in the control tower, “air traffic controllers could not see the aircraft, taxiway or apron”, said investigators.
And because it was stationary, the Jet2 plane did not appear on the controllers’ surface movement radar display.
In addition, the thick fog rendered the airport CCTV useless.
The report stated: “With no other information about stand occupancy available to them, air traffic control were unaware that Stand 24 was occupied.
“Accordingly, the ground movements controller cleared EI-SEV to taxi the shortest route to Stand 22.”
It added: “The poor visibility rendered the parked aircraft on Stand 24 invisible to air traffic control.
“Had visibility been better, they would have had an opportunity to visually acquire the obstruction and offer a different route.”
The report stated that when the Ryanair flight crew saw the Jet2 plane, they noted that the space available to pass was “tight”.
But the pilot also was reassured, as they were following the taxi lane centreline and the parked aircraft was on its stop bar, that there would be enough room.
They reduced speed to a “slow walking place” as the co-pilot monitored the right wing tip but, as the two aircraft crossed, the Ryanair plane’s wing struck the Jet2 plane’s tail. The Ryanair captain brought the aircraft to a halt and immediately reported the collision to area traffic controllers.
Both planes suffered serious damage, but nobody was injured.
The AAIB report stated: “The fallibility of the human eye in accurately judging relative distance at range seduced the crew into thinking that safe separation had been achieved.”
It added that the flight crew was unaware that “less than minimum standard taxi separations” existed between parking Stands 22 to 25.
Investigators found a lack of published guidance and warnings to alert controllers and flight crew to the risk was a contributing factor.