Expensive fender bender

Last week I stopped into the shop to see how the annual on our Archer was
progressing. While I was in the hangar, the FBO's Navajo pulled up outside
and shut down. Everyone dropped what they were doing and rushed outside to
see it. Turns out it had just been flown back from Allentown on a ferry
permit after a bad morning. The plane was parked on the ramp at Allentown
for some minor work before an Air-Taxi checkride the next day. A tug
operator was pulling a Lear Jet out of the hangar onto the ramp, which was a
sheet of ice. He had a hooded parka on, and couldn't see behind him. Not
seeing the Navajo behind him because of the hood, he suddenly found himself
pinned under the Navajo wing. The impact crunched the right main gear door,
dented the leading edge of the wing under the de-ice boots, scraped up the
bottom of the wing, and dented the nacelle. The operator then tried to
extricate himself by moving the tug forward. The wind then took the Lear
around on the ice, which jacknifed into tug, putting a long gash in the nose
of the Lear. The tug operator ended up with a broken leg and a few broken
ribs. The Navajo gear door will need replacing, the wing will need to be
re-skinned, and the de-ice boot will probably need replacing. The Lear was
ferried to the factory for an estimate. Ugh.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

Ouch! The tug operator is lucky he didn't back into a prop. Perhaps when his
boss gets done with him, though, he may wish he had.

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

A tug
operator was pulling a Lear Jet out of the hangar onto the ramp, which was a
sheet of ice. He had a hooded parka on, and couldn't see behind him.

Wonder why the tug didn't have a rear-view mirror.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Bob Chilcoat wrote:

A tug
operator was pulling a Lear Jet out of the hangar onto the ramp, which
was a
sheet of ice. He had a hooded parka on, and couldn't see behind him.

Wonder why the tug didn't have a rear-view mirror.

Probably thought it was too expensive all of $10

can you say... "your fired".. aka the Donald


"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
Ouch! The tug operator is lucky he didn't back into a prop. Perhaps when
his
boss gets done with him, though, he may wish he had.

George,
Most tugs do not have rear view mirrors because they are so open and you
are usually pushing a plane so you are facing it. It is one more thing
that will get broken.

Michelle

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

Bob Chilcoat wrote:


A tug
operator was pulling a Lear Jet out of the hangar onto the ramp, which was a
sheet of ice. He had a hooded parka on, and couldn't see behind him.



Wonder why the tug didn't have a rear-view mirror.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.



--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

Michelle P wrote in
nk.net:

George,
Most tugs do not have rear view mirrors because they are so open and
you are usually pushing a plane so you are facing it. It is one more
thing that will get broken.

Heck with *rear* view mirrors, you are right about pushing a plane!

Friend of mine, couple of years ago, was in the runup area of a towered
airport, in her Cessna 172. Brakes locked, doing the runup ... WHAM.
Whole plane is shoved sideways and forward. After a moment to start
breathing again, she shuts down.

Turns out a construction forklift with a whopping big load of steel in the
forks had tried to take a shortcut. He had NO forward view, and had run
into the right rear of the plane. Amazing what damage a ton of steel can
do to an aluminum spam can. She was NOT a happy camper.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------

"James M. Knox" wrote:

a construction forklift with a whopping big
load of steel in the forks had tried to take
a shortcut.

Saw a rental 172 at a local airport with the tip of one wing in shreds. Was
told the garbage truck, making its weekly pick-up on the field, got too close
and sheered the tip of the wing off, then the driver said that the *plane*
wasn't where he expected it to be. I guess!
:-)

Saw a rental 172 at a local airport with the tip of one wing in
shreds. Was told the garbage truck, making its weekly pick-up on the
field, got too close and sheered the tip of the wing off, then the
driver said that the *plane* wasn't where he expected it to be. I
guess! :-)


Wasn't it in plane sight?

"James M. Knox" wrote in message ...
Turns out a construction forklift with a whopping big load of steel in the
forks had tried to take a shortcut. He had NO forward view, and had run
into the right rear of the plane. Amazing what damage a ton of steel can
do to an aluminum spam can. She was NOT a happy camper.

Should get him a copy of Staplerfahrer Klaus to watch.