Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
La Guardia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flushing, New York 11371
Saturday, September 27, 2003 11:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
As the airplane was being pushed out from the gate area, with only one wing walker positioned off of the right wing, the left wing and a refuse truck collided. There was no communication established between the tug operator, and the cockpit crew due to the lack of interphone headsets. The refuse truck operator stated he positioned the refuse truck behind the left side of the airplane to allow an assistant to exit from the truck to assure that there was adequate clearance to proceed backwards and outboard of the left wing of the airplane. The refuse truck operator then pulled forward approximately 4 feet to allow the airplane to be pulled back to the gate, and parked the truck. According to the American Eagle Embraer EMB Airplane Operations Manual, "Hand signals may be used at the Captain's discretion (e.g. inoperative interphone, inoperative headset or lightning in the area). In these cases, when hand signals are used, the following is required, an additional ground agent will be required, to communicate hand signals to the cockpit, as the push-out vehicle operator cannot safely operate the push-out vehicle and maintain constant visual contact with the Captain during push-out. This additional ground agent will maintain constant visual contact with the Captain during the push-out. A pre-push-out briefing must be held, between the Captain and ground agent, to thoroughly brief the hand signals to be used during push-out. This will ensure that both parties understand what is to occur before, during and after push-out." The captain did not coordinate push-out procedures with ground personnel prior to the pushback, and the additional ground agent was not present.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The inadequate visual lookout by the driver of a ground vehicle, and by ground support personnel, which resulted in a subsequent collision between the airplane and ground vehicle. A factor related to the accident was the failure of the pilot-in-command and ground personnel to coordinate ground-handling procedures.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/27/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1100 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Flushing |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11371 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404638N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0735221W |
| Event Location Airport | La Guardia Airport |
| 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 | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 22 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1051 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 22 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 30 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17616 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FRG FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 30 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2005 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Garden City, NY |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N733KR |
| NTSB Number | NYC03LA208 |
| 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 | Embraer |
| Aircraft Model | EMB-135 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 145-368 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Worth |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76155 |
| 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 | AEAA |
| 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 Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGA |
| Departure City | Flushing |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | RDU |
| Destination City | Raleigh |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - pushback/tow |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 19 2008 9:09AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |