Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dubuque Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Dubuque, Iowa 52003
Sunday, April 3, 2011 8:43 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flightcrew was preparing the airplane for departure from the gate. The nose wheel was still chocked, the auxiliary power unit was running, and the engines were not operating. The gate agent had moved the jet bridge about 20 to 25 feet from the airplane, when a strong wind gust pushed the jet bridge back into the airplane, which created about a 20-inch gash in the fuselage below the captain’s window. The airport had deactivated the brake system on the jet bridge during the winter months since the brakes would routinely freeze. The gate agents who were operating the jet bridge attempted to keep it from being blown into the airplane, but with the brake system deactivated, they were unable to do so. The Emergency Stop was inoperable when the brakes were deactivated. When the Emergency Stop button was pushed, the brakes would not engage. Pushing the Emergency Stop button also cut the power to the control panel so moving the joystick had no effect. After the incident occurred, the airport had the brake system activated, and the jet bridge operated normally.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The airport authorities' improper decision to deactivate the jet bridge braking system which created an unsafe condition by the gate agents not being able to stop the bridge from impacting the airplane during a wind gust.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 4/3/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 843 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Dubuque |
| Event State | IOWA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 52003 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 422404N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0904220W |
| Event Location Airport | Dubuque Regional Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DBQ |
| 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 | 1077 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 753 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DBQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1077 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 27 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.63 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KDBQ 031153Z 13018G27KT 10SM FEW050 BKN060 OVC080 |
| 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 | 47 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 28415 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-AGL-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 23 2011 10:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N377SK |
| NTSB Number | CEN11IA270 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EMBRAER |
| Aircraft Model | EMB-135KL |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 145579 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 46737 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | -- |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| 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 | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 19 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 24441 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Chautauqua Airlines Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8909 Purdue Rd Ste 300 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Indianapolis |
| Aircraft Owner State | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 46268 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Chautauqua Airlines Inc |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 8909 Purdue Rd Ste 300 |
| Operator City | Indianapolis |
| Operator State | IN |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 46268 |
| Operator Code | CHQA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | CHQA058A |
| 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 | DBQ |
| Departure City | Dubuque |
| Departure State | IA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 843 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | DBQ |
| Destination City | Dubuque |
| Destination State | IA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 23 2011 10:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |