Dfw International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Fort Worth, Texas 75261
Monday, October 25, 2004 18:30 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

Two employees began to perform a pushback procedure to the airplane in preparation for its departure. A ground employee was operating a Lektro electric pushback vehicle, and a second ground employee was acting as a wing-walker on the left side of the airplane. As the pushback procedure began, the vehicle began to move to a jack-knife position toward the airplane's right engine, which was running, and the propeller was turning in the "feathered" position. At this time, the Captain and First Officer signaled to ground personnel to halt the pushback. The vehicle continued to turn about the nose of the airplane until the second employee ran to the vehicle and stopped the pushback movement. The original operator exited the vehicle on its left side toward the right wing and began walking backwards toward the turning propeller. Following a few steps back, the employee was struck by the propeller "at least twice," before falling to the ground. The operator of the push-out vehicle and the wing-walker were not wearing ground-to-cockpit headsets at the time of the accident, because the headsets were not working properly. According to the company's push-out/towing procedures, "when the headsets are inoperative or the ramp has been advised of lightning in the area, hand signals will be used for communication between ground personnel and the Captain and an additional ground agent will be required." The operator reported that this was the first time that the injured employee had operated the pushback vehicle alone.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The ground personnel's failure to maintain clearance from the propeller. Contributing factors were the ground personnel's failure to comply with procedures/directives and the ground personnel's failure to properly use equipment.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/25/2004
Event Day of the Week Monday
Time of Event 1830
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City Fort Worth
Event State TEXAS
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 75261
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 325348N
Event Location Longitude 0970216W
Event Location Airport DFW International Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID DFW
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 607
Weather Briefing Completeness Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1753 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID DFW
Elevation of weather observation facility 607
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 13000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 2200
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) 22
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 19
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 160
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 6
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.92
Density Altitude (feet) 1849
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Serious
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries 1
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 31
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 17157
NTSB Notification Source FAA Communications Center
NTSB Notification Date Oct 25 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 2300
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Jan 27 2005 3:52PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N376AE
NTSB Number DFW05LA010
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 121: Air Carrier
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage None
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Saab-Scania AB (Saab)
Aircraft Model SF-340B
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 340B-376
Certified Max Gross Weight 29000
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 37
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection AAIP
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Wells Fargo Bank Northwest
Aircraft Owner Street Address 299 S Main Street #U1228-120
Aircraft Owner City Salt Lake City
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84111
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name American Eagle Airlines, Inc.
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 1700W 20th Street
Operator City DFW Airport
Operator State TX
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 75261
Operator Code SIMA
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 No
Departure Airport Code DFW
Departure City Dallas
Departure State TX
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1840
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code GRK
Destination City Killeen
Destination State TX
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Taxi - pushback/tow
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record --
User who most recently changed record --
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --