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)