Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Philadelphia Intl Arpt Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19133
Wednesday, September 2, 1998 18:05 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The DC-9-30 cleared the runway and was taxiing into an alleyway entrance between terminal concourses, when it's left wing struck a fuel truck that was traveling on a service road. The fuel truck, traveling from left to right, came from behind a stopped airplane. The fuel truck was about 150 feet beyond the vehicle stop sign. The airplane's left main landing gear tire left skid marks 47 feet in length on the ramp. The fuel truck driver reported he had stopped at the stop sign prior to crossing the alleyway entrance. The stop sign only required a stop if aircraft were present. In addition, drivers were taught that airplanes had the right of way over vehicles. The fuel truck driver's visibility to the right was restricted by equipment on the truck and the stopped airplane. The pilot's visibility to the left was restricted by the stopped airplane. When the fuel truck appeared from behind the stopped airplane, the fuel truck driver observed the airplane, stopped, and was attempting to back out of the way when he was struck by the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the fuel truck driver to follow airport operating procedures, and yield the right-of-way to the airplane. Factors were the stopped airplane, which obscured the fuel truck from the approaching airplane and the approaching airplane from the fuel truck, and the lack of visual aids on the vehicle to help compensate for restricted driver visibility to the right.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/2/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1805 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | PHILADELPHIA |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 19133 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | PHILADELPHIA INTL ARPT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PHL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 10 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1754 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PHL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 10 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 86 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1474 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 3 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:47AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N927VJ |
| NTSB Number | NYC98LA177 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | DC-9-30 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-9-30 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 48154 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 105000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 106 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 28 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 40700 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | USAIR |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | GREATER PITTSBURGH ARPT |
| Aircraft Owner City | PITTSBURGH |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15231 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | USAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | YOW |
| Departure City | OTTAWA |
| Departure State | CD |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1641 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PHL |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |