E-6B damaged in hangar accident

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Maverick7

Probably. And it'll probably need a new fin because of the damaged attachment point.

Nah, just some Testor's glue and Scotch tape

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Irishhaf

Yeah that was my thinking too. The only way the tail shifted that far is for the front attachment point to have broken. That's not something I'd want to risk repairing.

I assume the mounting bolts have torn out/through the lower mounting point, Meaning that will have to be replaced as well?

a reply to: solidshot
Mounting brackets and most likely repairs on the bulkheads as well,depending if there is any skin deformity or rivet/fastener pull throughs.

Zaph, I'm guessing the tug driver made the classic mistake and turned too early or followed the wrong tow line? In my experience and having personally watched footage of a similar 737 incident by a colleague, if the driver goes off line coming out of a hangar like that you are probably looking at less than 4 seconds between initial bad steering input and contact. In that particular case the damage bill was over $2 million and the aircraft had to have the fin dropped, stringers replaced and the stab reskinned on one side. That took almost 6 weeks. Unless you have your finger on the air horn and blow at the first sign of trouble there is not enough reaction time, even if they hear it. I have seen the same thing happen with the exact same type of fin door on our hangars with an A330, in that case they just kissed the paint. A close work mate managed to hit an A380 into a 747-400 outside and he had already come to a complete stop before the driver inexplicably took his foot off the brake despite someone else blasting a horn til it ran out of air. Sometimes sh*t just happens. We ended up removing the 747 winglet, patching it with speed tape and sent it off to HNL with about 1 min to spare before curfew, fun night!

a reply to: thebozeian

We used to have an over abundance of walkers when coming out of the hangar. We had one that walked in front of the tug, both to ensure he kept the speed down, and to do nothing but watch the wing walkers, and be a second set of eyes on the tail. The wing walkers would also watch the guy behind the aircraft. If any of them signaled stop, the front walker would signal the tug driver, who had orders to stop immediately.

Aw man, they ain't bumper cars. You gotta treat 'em gentle like. Sheesh.

Heck I am working at a civilian airport working depot and when a plane is towed out we probably have 8-10 people pushing it out.

I still cant wrap my head around how this happened.

Another E-6B is out of the rotation. An E-6B made an emergency landing in Tulsa after a fire warning. The crew used the forward slide to evacuate the aircraft after stopping so it would appear it was more than just an indication.

www.newson6.com...

Sorry just had to.