Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
La Guardia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flushing, New York 11301
Sunday, January 19, 2003 7:15 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Boeing 757 was parked at the gate with passengers aboard when an Airbus that was being taxied struck the Boeing. The Airbus was being taxied to a gate by maintenance technicians. The taxiing mechanic reported that he activated the parking brake and waited for ground personnel and a jet way operator to arrive. After the ground personnel arrived he released the parking brake. The airplane did not move and he advanced the throttles out of their idle detents "a couple of inches, about halfway." The airplane began to move at a "fairly decent speed," and he realized the throttles were still out of the idle detent position. He pulled the throttles back and applied brakes; however, the airplane did not slow and continued until it struck the jet way. Review of the flight data recorder revealed that about 12 seconds after the parking brake was released, the thrust lever angles for both engines were increased to about 17 degrees for about 9 seconds, before they were returned to the idle position. During that time, the engines N1 and N2 speeds increased to about 71, and 85 percent, respectively. The taxiing mechanic stated he was qualified to taxi the Airbus and had taxied the airplane regularly as part of his normal work duties. Review of his training records revealed he had received approximately 5 hours of initial Airbus taxi on-the-job training. However, he did not possess an authorization to taxi the A319. Examination of airplane's brake-steering control unit, and the electronic control units from each engine, did not reveal any evidence of a system failure, which would have contributed to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Maintenance personnel failure to maintain aircraft control as a result of excessive throttle input.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/19/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 715 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Flushing |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11301 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | Yes |
| Event Location Latitude | 404638N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0735221W |
| Event Location Airport | LA GUARDIA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 22 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 651 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 22 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 6 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 1 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 6 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 7 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15368 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 19 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 740 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2004 3:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Garden City |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N550NW |
| NTSB Number | NYC03FA039 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 757-251 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 26497 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 228500 |
| 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 | 194 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 19 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5188 |
| Airframe Hours | 5188 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTHWEST AIRLINES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5101 Northwest DR C78960 |
| Aircraft Owner City | St. Paul |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55111 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | NWAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGA |
| Departure City | Flushing |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MSP |
| Destination City | Minneapolis |
| Destination State | MN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 15 2004 11:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |