Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Francisco International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Francisco, California 94128
Sunday, January 13, 2008 19:29 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A Boeing 757-222 airplane and a Bombardier Inc. CL-600-2C10 were substantially damaged when the tails of both airplanes collided during the pushback process from two adjacent terminal gates during night visual meteorological conditions. The flight crew of the CL-600-2C10 reported that during the final stages of pushback from gate 79, they were in a stopped position with both engines running while their ground crew was in the process of disconnecting the tug when the collision occurred. Company maintenance personnel stated they were pushing the 757-222 back from gate 80 without the use of wing-walkers or tail walkers to relocate the airplane to another location on the airport and did not see the CL-600-2C10. Review of Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication recordings between ground control and both airplanes revealed that the 757-222 was initially cleared for pushback onto taxiway alpha from gate 80. About 41 seconds later, the ground controller cleared the CL-600-2C10 to push back onto taxiway alpha from gate 79. The recordings revealed that the ground controller did not advise either aircraft of near simultaneous adjacent pushback operations. The controller stated that he believed there was room for both aircraft to push back and did not foresee a traffic conflict.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The company tug operator of the other airplane's failure to maintain clearance with this aircraft during the pushback process. Also causal was the ground controller's failure to alert the pilot of this aircraft and tug operator of the other airplane of the simultaneous pushback occurring from adjacent gates. Contributing to the accident was the company's pushback operation without the use of wing/tail walkers.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/13/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1929 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Francisco |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94128 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | Yes |
| Event Location Latitude | 373708N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222229W |
| Event Location Airport | San Francisco International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSFO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 13 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1956 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSFO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 13 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.27 |
| 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 | 61 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24191 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 13 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 29 2010 9:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Francisco, California |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N705SK | N508UA |
| NTSB Number | SEA08LA061A | SEA08LA061B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes | -- |
| Damage | Substantial | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bombardier, Inc. | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | CL-600-2C10 | 757-222 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 10145 | 24744 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 75250 | 240000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 70 | 192 |
| Number of Engines | 2 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2008 12:00AM | Apr 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2643 | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 10507 | 59365 |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No | No |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Skywest Airlnes Inc. | United Airlines Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 444 South River Road | P.O. Box 66100 |
| Aircraft Owner City | St. George | Chicago |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84790 | 60666 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | Yes |
| Operator Name | -- | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- | -- |
| Operator City | -- | -- |
| Operator State | -- | -- |
| Operator Country | -- | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- | -- |
| Operator Code | SWIA | UALA |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KSFO | KSFO |
| Departure City | San Francisco | San Francisco |
| Departure State | CA | CA |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | -- | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PST | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KBOI | -- |
| Destination City | Boise | -- |
| Destination State | ID | -- |
| Destination Country | USA | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Other | Other |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2010 3:49PM | Mar 31 2010 3:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |