Ryanair B738 and American B763 at Barcelona on Apr 14th 2011, both aircraft departed despite ground collision and passenger complaints

Last Update: July 30, 2012 / 14:42:45 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of American Airlines N366AA, Boeing 737-800 — American Airlines N366AA, Boeing 737-800 (Photo credit: Aero Icarus / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 14, 2011

Classification
Incident

Airline
American Airlines

Flight number
AA-67

Departure
Barcelona, Spain

Destination
New York JFK, United States

Aircraft Registration
N366AA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

An American Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N366AA performing flight AA-67 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to New York JFK,NY (USA), had taxied to the holding point runway 25L and was holding short of the runway on holding line G3 (most western holding line).

A Ryanair Boeing 737-800, registration EI-EKB performing flight FR-8136 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Ibiza,SP (Spain) with 169 passengers and 6 crew, was taxiing along Barcelona's taxiway K for departure from runway 25L and was maneouvering to pass behind the Boeing 767-300.

A number of passengers on board of the Boeing 737-800 observed the right hand wing of the aircraft contact the tailplane of the Boeing 767-300 and rose out of their seats attracting the attention of a flight attendant. A passenger told the flight attendant, that their aircraft had hit the aircraft besides them. The flight attendant contacted the purser, who instructed her to contact the flight deck, she contacted the flight deck and informed the captain that passengers had seen their aircraft had hit another aircraft. The captain responded however everything was fine and she continued with the takeoff about 2 minutes after the Boeing 767.

Immediately after departure the passengers insisted the flight was not safe and they had collided with another aircraft, one of the passengers identified himself as an engineer. The flight attendant told the engineer that the captain had been informed and had told everything was fine. No further information was forwarded to the flight deck.

After landing in Ibiza, while disembarking, the passengers again spoke up claiming the flight had been unsafe.

During the turnaround the flight attendant informed the purser that one of the passengers observing the collision was an engineer. Neither approached the flight crew however.

Following the return flight FR-8137 the purser talked to the captain and informed her that one of the passengers observing the collision was an engineer.

In the following it was identified that the right hand winglet of the Boeing 737-800 had received damage, the Boeing 767-300 was found with damage to the left hand stabilizer following landing in New York.

Spain's CIAIAC is investigating the occurrence confirming the Boeing 737-800 had contacted a Boeing 767-300 holding short of runway 25L, the Boeing 737-800 had received damage to the right hand winglet and the Boeing 767-300 damage to the left hand stabilizer.

An internal Ryanair document forwarded to The Aviation Herald states, that none of the Ryanair crew members observed anything unusual as the taxiway was rather bumpy, it was only flight attendant #2 who became aware of the collision through the observed passenger reactions.

The airline said the investigation has been completed, the report appointed no blame and released no safety recommendation or requirements to Ryanair.

Spain's CIAIAC released their report in their bulletin 02/2012, page 212 and following, concluding:

The incident resulted from the crew of the Ryanair B737Â’s misjudging of the distances as it passed behind the B767, which was stopped at the G3 position of the runway 25L holding point.

Assigning position G3 to an aircraft with a long fuselage, such as a B767-300, and the position of said aircraft, relatively far away from the holding point marking, contributed to the incident.

The deficiencies in the communications between the cabin and flight crews on the B737 resulted in the collision going unnoticed and in both aircraft continuing with their flights without an assessment of the damage produced.

The CIAIAC reported the American Airlines Boeing 767-300 was positioned on holding point G3 (the most western holding point) about 16 meters short of the hold short line stating: "From the pilotÂ’s point of view, the main concern is not to interfere with aircraft circulating on the runway at any time. A pilot will therefore give priority to this consideration over any potential problems involving tailing aircraft, and will keep the holding point marking well in sight and ahead of the nose of the airplane, barring any instruction to the contrary from ATC."

The CIAIAC reported neither of the Boeing 767-300 crew got aware of the contact between the aircraft, especially they did not notice any movement that would by typical for a collision. When the B738 crew refused to continue to taxi before the B763 had moved, they moved about 10 feet forward.

The CIAIAC reported the B738 captain had asked the first officer to verify separation to the Boeing 767-300 as they were passing along. She steered the aircraft about half a meter to the left of the taxiway center line to ensure separation. The first officer indicated there was no concern as the wingtip passed the tail cone of the 767 however he asked to stop immediately when the wing tip approached the end of the left hand horizontal stabilizer. The captain rose out of her seat to assess the situation and was surprised about the short distance, the first officer assured however the aircraft had not made contact. Shortly thereafter the intercom rang (single chime only, company policy requiring three chimes in case of a serious problem) and the flight attendant said "for your information" leaving the captain under the impression only one passenger had reported contact between the aircraft - she continued to say in the interview that had she been aware of multiple passengers observing the collision she would have reacted differently.

After returning the Barcelona both flight crew believed the contact must have happened before stopping.

The CIAIAC released one safety recommendation to Spain's AENA to reassess the taxi limitations on taxiway K and holding points G.

The CIAIAC also released one safety recommendation to Ryanair to "reassess those aspects of its training program involving flight and cabin crew communications and address the deficiencies noted, if any. Special emphasis should be placed on the benefits to safety that stem from the effective transmission of information from the passenger cabin to the flight deck."