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American MD-80 damage LAX

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DHPFLYN

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
361
Does anyone know what happened to the MD-80 in LAX? I was in Baltimore yesterday and our ops people showed us some pictures of the accident.

They were told the pilots powered up before the tow bar was released. It looked pretty bad. The tow bar looked like a candy cane and the pushback was swung into the aircraft on the F/O's side. Nice big hole on the front and side of the aircraft.

It just seems hard to believe they would just power up with the tug still attached.
 
Does anyone know what happened to the MD-80 in LAX? I was in Baltimore yesterday and our ops people showed us some pictures of the accident.

They were told the pilots powered up before the tow bar was released. It looked pretty bad. The tow bar looked like a candy cane and the pushback was swung into the aircraft on the F/O's side. Nice big hole on the front and side of the aircraft.

It just seems hard to believe they would just power up with the tug still attached.

Why does it seem hard to believe? Accidents happen all the time. Nobody is perfect. People make mistakes.
 
I've had rampers walk away without giving an all clear signal. Usually happens during a distraction. All I can say is call ground or ramp, and ask if the tug is clear. What these guys did is easy to do. There I go myself...
 

From the NTSB report
On December 26, 2008, at 0859 pacific standard time, American Airlines flight 1350, an MD-83
(registration N9617R), impacted its tug during pushback operations at Los Angeles International
Airport. No injuries were reported to the 124 passengers, 3 flight attendants, 2 pilots, or the
tug operator; however, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower portion of the
forward fuselage.
The number 1 engine was started during the pushback. The tug operator stated that as he was
preparing to transition the airplane from being pushed back to pulling it forward, the airplane
began to accelerate forward. The tug operator applied the brakes but the airplane continued to
move forward, causing the tug to jack-knife back and forth until it was impacted by the airplane.
FDR data and crew interview statements indicate that an increase in power on the number 1 engine
was commanded around the time the tug was preparing to pull the airplane forward.
Updated on Feb 3 2009 12:46PM

http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6458658&nseq=139
 
Sounds like what CAL did in EWR back in '99 or so when they ran the AC into the terminal. MX started the eng at the gate with the throttle up. Totaled the AC. This one lookes totaled as well.
 
Man that might have hit the pressure hull. Ugly! It happens though.

We had a 73N up in PHL or PIT that was there for more than a month getting repairs done just so it could get to ATL. You would be surprised how much of this happens on a weekly basis.
 
On the 757, a certain combination of buttons and radios will allow the ground crew to hear the ramp freq. Several times ramp has cleared us to push and the ground crew thought they had been cleared to push us.

A lot of CA's will kick off the brakes when the ground crews check in.

TC
 

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