"Ground rules change at Gunnison airport"

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Ground rules change at Gunnison airport
By Jeffrey Leib 
The Denver (CO) Post
 
 
Gunnison County Airport officials have installed new procedures to prevent
collisions between planes and vehicles on the airfield after a recent
incident in which an airport snow- plow crashed into a commercial jet parked
on a taxiway. 

The plow, traveling between 40 mph and 60 mph, hit the Continental Airlines
Boeing 737 jet Jan. 8 while the parked plane was waiting for clearance to
taxi to the gate after it arrived from Houston, according to a National
Transportation Safety Board report.

"The force of the impact pushed the left main landing gear forward
approximately 10 feet, turning the airplane to the right," the NTSB said.

The 737 had five crew members and 68 passengers onboard.

No one on the plane was injured, but the aircraft was taken out of service
after the accident.

The plow driver also was not injured, but a passenger in the snowplow
suffered minor injuries, according to the NTSB.
  
The Continental jetliner landed as a snowstorm was hitting the Gunnison
airport, said John DeVore, Gunnison County manager and airport director.

The plow had been clearing the runway and pulled off while the plane landed,
but neither the plow's driver nor a passenger in the vehicle heard a radio
transmission that told the jet's pilots to hold the plane on the taxiway
while another plane cleared the gate, DeVore said.

As a result, the plow's driver thought he was cleaning an unused taxiway
when he ran into the plane, DeVore added.

The storm was restricting visibility at the time.

"The breakdown was that the plow driver did not hear that the jet was in a
holding pattern on the taxiway," DeVore said.

To prevent a similar event, airport officials require that drivers of ground
vehicles on the airfield reply that they've heard communications with flight
crews. Drivers also must verify that radio equipment is fully operational
before they take it on the airfield, DeVore said.


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