Description

On 21 August 2008, an Airbus A340-300 being operated by an undisclosed operator by a German-licensed flight crew on a scheduled passenger flight from Teheran to Frankfurt collided with a stationary bus with only the driver on board whilst approaching the allocated parking gate in normal daylight visibility. The No 4 engine impacted the bus roof as shown in the photograph below reproduced from the official report. None of the occupants of either the aircraft or the bus were injured.

Investigation

An investigation was carried out by the German BFU. It was found that neither the aircraft nor the passenger bus had any technical deficiencies and that the AGNIS (Azimuth Guidance for Nose-In Stand) and the associated stop device PAPA (Parallax Parking Aid) for the assigned gate, B26, was not operating at the time of the collision and that a marshaller was allocated to attend.

It was noted from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) that the flight crew had noticed the stationary bus on the road but had not assessed that the distance between it and the aircraft would be insufficient after turning into the parking gate. It was established that an abrupt braking manoeuvre initiated by the aircraft crew just before the collision had occurred as a result of the co-pilot seeing a follow-me car quickly approaching the aircraft from the front and was not because of any realisation of an impending collision with the bus. The crew had only become aware of the collision with the bus approximately one minute after the aircraft had stopped.