First-Time RJ Flight Has Interesting (Cursed?) End

by ANN Contributor Tom Griffith

Editor's Note: It sure does seem we're seeing a lot of ramp incidents at airports across the nation (not just at Sea-Tac) lately... but we weren't expecting one of our correspondents to be on an aircraft that had an unexpected encounter with an unfortunately-placed ramp van at George Bush/Houston Intercontinental on Monday.

In fact, this is the second such incident we know of at IAH in just over a month -- leading some of us to wonder just what's in the water down there. In all seriousness, this looks to be a fairly minor incident (as most are), with the only casualties being an Embraer wingtip, some paint on the van, and the ego (and possible employment) of the worker who, judging by ANN Contributor Tom Griffith's take on the event, directed the jet more or less right into the van.

Griffith, who is a frequent contributor to ANN (last summer, he detailed his quixotic quest to ride on a B-17, as well as his experiences once he pulled it off) sent us this account on Tuesday -- and frankly, it's too good not to share.

And, we reiterate... guys, let's all be careful out there.

On Monday, 1/9/06, wife Louise and I were on the first leg of a two-leg trip from Dallas, TX to Philadelphia, PA.

We were booked on Continental from Love Field in Dallas (DAL) to Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston (IAH), and then we'd change planes and travel to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in (DUH!) Philadelphia. Object of trip: to spend a week with our daughter and her husband, who are expecting our next grandchild in a few months!

Because of the way that things are (Wright Amendment, Global Warming, the Heartbreak of Psoriasis, etc), the cheapest flights involve a trip from DAL to either Houston or Chicago, with a change of planes, then on to Philly. We chose Houston because it being the middle of winter, we didn't want to have problems in Chicago with possible snow, ice, etc. This meant that we'd fly the first leg of the trip on Continental Express in an Embraer ERJ 135 or 145.  That was fine, because I've never flown in one of these little jets before.  The aircraft, although extremely cramped for someone over 6 feet tall, was quiet and fast, and we got from DAL to IAH in about an hour. 

Winds were about 5 from the south so naturally WE got to land to the east on one of the East-West runways. In addition to the right crosswind, there seemed to be a gust factor that made the landing a little more interesting, but our pilots made a very smooth landing, and we began the long taxi to the terminal. It seems that commuter airlines have us taxiing for longer than we're flying on these relatively short hops. But, I digress.

We were to park at our gate at Terminal B and we followed the yellow lines to our spot outside of the designated gate. Our seats on the ERJ were over the right wing. (I chose wing-seats on purpose, because I wanted to watch the control surfaces as we took off, cruised and landed, to check out the movements of the flaps, ailerons and spoilers.) I was looking out my window as we taxied up. The gate person with the orange "go-this-way-and-do-this-thing" sticks was never seen by me, but that's OK - the pilots are the guys who need to see him/her. Anyway, we were getting closer to the exact spot for the plane to stop, but still had 15 or 20 feet to go when all of a sudden, it was like we'd rolled over GIANT chocks and the plane literally bumped to an immediate LOUD stop. We figured that the pilot had slammed on the brakes.

We looked outside of the window to the left and, well, "Houston, we have a problem!" We had taxied right into a delivery truck!

The truck was about the size of your everyday UPS truck and the left wingtip, with its sexy upswept winglet, had come into contact with the top right corner of the back of the truck. Being the intrepid photographer that I am, I whipped out my new digital SLR (OK, it's too big to "whip out" but I did get it out of the case rather quickly) and punched the shutter button a few times.

The pilot had previously made an announcement a few minutes earlier as we were taxiing that we'd have a "short delay" before arriving at our gate. He made another announcement right after our little "incident" that we'd be "delayed a little longer" with an obvious hint of laughter in his voice.

Everyone onboard our little jet had a perfect view of the "interface" between the jet and the truck. We were all OK -- we were all still seated and buckled in (note to self: listen to the crew and don't unbuckle your seatbelts before the plane comes to a full stop!). Because of the bright morning sun, the white wing of the jet and the white color of the truck (all excuses for poor photography), the photos do not show the damage all that well.

All of the ground crew personnel came up and were amused at what could have been a dangerous incident, had the truck been a fuel truck or had a worker been standing on the rear of the truck, etc, etc. Some airport dude started snapping photos with his little camera phone, and before too long, folks with shirts and ties and clipboards (OH, MY!) came out to survey the damage. After a few more minutes, our pilot told us that they'd be rolling up a set of stairs to our little jet so that we could get off and be on our way.

Since we were able to now "legally" make cell calls, I called my daughter back home in the DFW area to let her know that our family's Embraer Express Regional Jet "curse" continued: a few years ago, she and her husband, Kenny, took off in a similar jet for a trip to Kentucky and the nose gear did not retract completely and it would not extend back to the correct down--and--locked position, so they flew laps around Houston to burn off fuel before making a main--gear only landing. Luckily, their jet skidded on the nose to an otherwise normal stop and no one was injured, thank God.

I guess that the gate-guy with the orange sticks is now having to do a lot of explaining to fight for his job. The pilots are totally blameless -- the orange-stick persons are responsible for guiding the planes to a safe, incident-free stop. One of the passengers who sat next to the window on the left side and directly over the wing saw it all. She told us that the ground person motioned with the sticks for the pilots to roll forward, then he looked towards the left wingtip as it approached the truck, had a kind of puzzled look on his face, hesitated, then motioned to continue forward and then BLAMMO! I didn't ask her, but I bet that at the instant of contact -- and remember, we were rolling forward at maybe a fast-walk -- the stick-person gave the "hit-the-brakes" signal and the pilot(s) reacted immediately, saving more damage to the aircraft and truck.

As it was, the wingtip/winglet assembly was all that seemed to be damaged on the plane, but who knows. Being familiar with what little aircraft cost to get fixed when they get little boo-boos, it's safe to say that this little jet could have expensive repairs ahead -- but like I said, who knows!

FMI: www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/preliminary_data/