Description

On 23 November 1995, in normal daylight visibility, an Airbus A340-300 being operated by Gulf Air on a scheduled international passenger flight from London Heathrow taxied past a Boeing 757-200 being operated by British Airways on a scheduled domestic passenger flight and also departing from London Heathrow which had stopped on a diverging taxiway within the departure holding area for Runway 27R such that the wing tip of the Airbus impacted the tail fin of other aircraft. Two of the 378 occupants of the two aircraft suffered minor injuries and both aircraft were damaged. Passengers were deplaned uneventfully from both aircraft.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. It was noted that both aircraft were being operated in accordance with their respective ATC clearances. It was established that the prior to the accident during the autumn of 1995, a new access to Block 18 of Runway 27R had been constructed which involved subdividing the previous holding area (Block 92) into three new blocks and the relocation of the compass base formerly in Block 92 to another part of the airport. At the time of the accident, each block of the new layout was found to have had a yellow painted taxiway centreline with green centerline lights at regular intervals. At the end of each block there were stop lines with red lights across the centerlines to mark the extremity of the block. The situation before and after the change is shown below in the diagrams taken from the Official Report: