A320, Lisbon Portugal, 2015

A320, Lisbon Portugal, 2015

Summary

On 19 May 2015, an Airbus A319 crew attempted to taxi into a nose-in parking position at Lisbon despite the fact that the APIS, although switched on, was clearly malfunctioning whilst not displaying an unequivocal ‘STOP’. The aircraft continued 6 metres past the applicable apron ground marking by which time it had hit the airbridge. The marshaller in attendance to oversee the arrival did not signal the aircraft or manually select the APIS ‘STOP’ instruction. The APIS had failed to detect the dark-liveried aircraft and the non-display of a steady ‘STOP’ indication was independently attributed to a pre-existing system fault.

Description

On 19 May 2015, an Airbus A320 (OO-SNB) being operated by Brussels Airlines on a scheduled international passenger flight from Brussels to Lisbon as SN 3815 was taxied into the allocated stand at destination in normal ground visibility by following the guidance provided by the Aircraft Positioning and Information System (APIS) but its left wing collided with the airbridge before any ‘stop’ instruction had been annunciated on the APIS. Damage was caused to the left engine intake cowl and some intake fan blades and to the airbridge but there were no injuries to the 150 occupants or any other persons. The aircraft was pushed back and passengers were disembarked via the 2L door using external airstairs.

The damage to the aircraft (left) and airbridge (right). [Reproduced from the Official Report]

Investigation

The event was notified to the Portuguese Accident Investigation Agency (the GPIAA) which carried out an Investigation. It was found that the 48 year old Captain held a licence restricted to multi pilot aircraft and had accumulated 10,200 total flying hours which included 2,000 hours on type. The 23 year old First Officer had a total of 1,205 flying hours of which 1,003 hours were on type.

The aircraft Captain described the arrival at stand 114 to the Investigation as follows:

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