2 planes collide at Heathrow !!

Millions worth of damage after two planes collide at Heathrow
Tuesday, July 31, 2007



FaresProTwo British Airways jets collided on the tarmac at Heathrow
Airport on Friday night, after one plane reversed into the other
resulting in millions of pounds worth of damage. The airline denies
the accident happened as a result of cost cutting, according to a
report in the Daily Mail.

The incident occurred only meters from Terminal 4, as the Boeing 777
carrying 200 passengers reversed from its gate into the path of
another British Airways Airbus jet, which has just landed and was
awaiting permission to dock at its own gate.

Passengers were said to have felt the full force of the collision
after the three times heavier Boeing plane bound for Washington DC
crashed into the tail-fin of the lighter and smaller Airbus jet
arriving from Zurich, resulting in extensive and expensive damage to
both.

Fire-fighters and emergency crews were immediately called to the
scene, as the airport triggered an emergency whereby forcing other
flights to abort landings until passengers were led off both planes.

The Daily Mail reports that BA staff has since said the incident was
"an accident waiting to happen" blaming BA's cost-cutting has led to
safety breaches becoming more common. The airline denies the charge,
but it has sparked debate within the industry.

"The Airbus which had just arrived from Zurich was supposed to
straight to its parking stand. There was space. But the dispatcher who
gives permission for it to proceed wasn't there. So it had to wait on
the taxi-way tarmac," a BA insider was reported as saying in the Daily
Mail.

'The dispatcher to open the gate wasn't there on time, so the incoming
Zurich flight just had to wait. It's an accident waiting to happen.

"The weight of the impact forced the Airbus to go back about 10ft."

An aviation informant said the damage would be at least in the six
figure sum, possibly seven.

"Neither aircraft will operate until we are absolutely convinced they
are safe to do so," a spokesperson for British Airways said, as
reported in the Daily Mail.

"There were no injuries. Customers would have been seated with their
seat belts on. Furthermore both aircraft would have been moving very
slowly at the time, given the fact they were moving onto and off of
the stands.

"The passengers were disembarked from the aircraft, put up in hotels
overnight, and later rebooked onto the next available service."

The airline insisting it would never compromise safety said it will be
launching an immediate investigation into the incident.

On 31 Jul, 17:26, wrote:
Millions worth of damage after two planes collide at Heathrow
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

FaresProTwo British Airways jets collided on the tarmac at Heathrow
Airport on Friday night, after one plane reversed into the other
resulting in millions of pounds worth of damage. The airline denies
the accident happened as a result of cost cutting, according to a
report in the Daily Mail.

The incident occurred only meters from Terminal 4, as the Boeing 777
carrying 200 passengers reversed from its gate into the path of
another British Airways Airbus jet, which has just landed and was
awaiting permission to dock at its own gate.

Passengers were said to have felt the full force of the collision
after the three times heavier Boeing plane bound for Washington DC
crashed into the tail-fin of the lighter and smaller Airbus jet
arriving from Zurich, resulting in extensive and expensive damage to
both.

Fire-fighters and emergency crews were immediately called to the
scene, as the airport triggered an emergency whereby forcing other
flights to abort landings until passengers were led off both planes.

The Daily Mail reports that BA staff has since said the incident was
"an accident waiting to happen" blaming BA's cost-cutting has led to
safety breaches becoming more common. The airline denies the charge,
but it has sparked debate within the industry.

"The Airbus which had just arrived from Zurich was supposed to
straight to its parking stand. There was space. But the dispatcher who
gives permission for it to proceed wasn't there. So it had to wait on
the taxi-way tarmac," a BA insider was reported as saying in the Daily
Mail.

'The dispatcher to open the gate wasn't there on time, so the incoming
Zurich flight just had to wait. It's an accident waiting to happen.

"The weight of the impact forced the Airbus to go back about 10ft."

An aviation informant said the damage would be at least in the six
figure sum, possibly seven.

"Neither aircraft will operate until we are absolutely convinced they
are safe to do so," a spokesperson for British Airways said, as
reported in the Daily Mail.

"There were no injuries. Customers would have been seated with their
seat belts on. Furthermore both aircraft would have been moving very
slowly at the time, given the fact they were moving onto and off of
the stands.

"The passengers were disembarked from the aircraft, put up in hotels
overnight, and later rebooked onto the next available service."

The airline insisting it would never compromise safety said it will be
launching an immediate investigation into the incident.


Lets just hope the repairs aren't bodged. Otherwise one of these
aircraft could well drop out of the sky in a few years time....

wrote in message
ps.com...

Lets just hope the repairs aren't bodged. Otherwise one of these
aircraft could well drop out of the sky in a few years time....

Does anything suggest that the repairs may be bodged?

Does BA have a reputation for bodging repairs to aircraft?


--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

On 31 Jul, 19:40, "William Black" wrote:
wrote in message

ps.com...

Lets just hope the repairs aren't bodged. Otherwise one of these
aircraft could well drop out of the sky in a few years time....

Does anything suggest that the repairs may be bodged?

Has happened in the past, relatively minor damage from a 'fender
bender', bodge repair and aircraft falls out of the sky.

Does BA have a reputation for bodging repairs to aircraft?

Nope. Not even sure they do the repairs themselves. But I don't
think making such repair will be easy. I guess I am uncomfortabe with
it in the same way I would prefer not be in an accident damaged car
that had been repaired. One of those things, you'd always be
wondering...


--
William Black

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

On Jul 31, 1:05 pm, wrote:
On 31 Jul, 19:40, "William Black" wrote:

wrote in message

ups.com...

Lets just hope the repairs aren't bodged. Otherwise one of these
aircraft could well drop out of the sky in a few years time....

Does anything suggest that the repairs may be bodged?

Has happened in the past, relatively minor damage from a 'fender
bender', bodge repair and aircraft falls out of the sky.

Does BA have a reputation for bodging repairs to aircraft?

Nope. Not even sure they do the repairs themselves. But I don't
think making such repair will be easy. I guess I am uncomfortabe with
it in the same way I would prefer not be in an accident damaged car
that had been repaired. One of those things, you'd always be
wondering...



--
William Black

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Here is another BBC article about the probe into the collision.
However, BBC fails to show any pics of the damage. Can anyone post
pics of the planes involved to see just how extensive the damage was?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/6923629.stm

In article . com,
quoted:

| [...] the Boeing 777 carrying 200 passengers reversed from its gate
| into the path of another British Airways Airbus jet, which has just
| landed and was awaiting permission to dock at its own gate.

"Reversed"? As in, its own engines? I didn't think 777s did that.
If a tow truck is being used, there should be at least two pairs of
eyes that can see a clear path behind the 777, or it doesn't move.

"Into the path of"? If it is awaiting permission to move, then it
isn't moving, and has no path. A later paragraph says the 777 pushed
the A320 ten feet after hitting it. That sounds like the 777
backed into the 320, not backed into the path of the 320.

"The Airbus which had just arrived from Zurich was supposed to
straight to its parking stand. There was space. But the dispatcher who
gives permission for it to proceed wasn't there. So it had to wait on
the taxi-way tarmac," a BA insider was reported as saying in the Daily
Mail.

Not relevant. Perhaps the 320 shouldn't have been there, but planes can and
do stop in the taxiway all the time. Other planes are not supposed to hit
them there. The "reporting" here seems quite poor.

--
Randy Hudson

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:58:57 -0700 'auzerais'
posted this onto rec.travel.air:

[snip]

Here is another BBC article about the probe into the collision.
However, BBC fails to show any pics of the damage. Can anyone post
pics of the planes involved to see just how extensive the damage was?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/6923629.stm

Interesting. From that article:
"There were 200 passengers on board the Airbus and 100 on the Boeing,
said BA."

That's the opposite to the original article.

On Jul 31, 7:51 pm, (Randy Hudson) wrote:
The "reporting" here seems quite poor.

no surprises here.

wrote:
Millions worth of damage after two planes collide at Heathrow

When you land at LAX, the aussie pilots always make a sarcastic announcement
about having to wait for a barge to drag them into the dock,and how they can
fly across the pacific but they can't park a plane etc etc etc but I guess a
5 minute wait for a barge is better than wrecking two planes. I'd really
wonder if the repairs were as good and strong as the original.
--
ant
Don't try to reply to my email addy:
I'm borrowing that of the latest
scammer/spammer

In message "ant"
wrote:

wrote:
Millions worth of damage after two planes collide at Heathrow

When you land at LAX, the aussie pilots always make a sarcastic announcement
about having to wait for a barge to drag them into the dock,and how they can
fly across the pacific but they can't park a plane etc etc etc but I guess a
5 minute wait for a barge is better than wrecking two planes. I'd really
wonder if the repairs were as good and strong as the original.

From reading the articles of this collision is isn't clear, but it
sounds like at least one plane was backing up, in which case the pilot
wasn't "driving" anyway at that particular moment, no?

--
Americans couldn't be any more self-absorbed if they were made from equal
parts water and papertowel.
-- Dennis Miller