In the past month or so I have seen about 3 examples of planes clipping each other at airports. I am just curious how this can happen. Do you guys think it is more from carelessness, or just an honest mistake of thinking that they will fit? I bet in depends on each individual case, but I just can’t imagine pilots could make mistakes like this.
Cameron,
Usually these things happen because one of the airplanes has not pulled up far enough and the other pilot thinks they have and thus clips them. With most jets, it is impossible to see the wing tips from the cockpit, so there is a lot of faith taxiing that goes on.
Chris
These clippings end up costing the airlines a ton of money in repairs, re-routing people, and from other factors. For the pilots involved, what is the punishment usually like? Do you get taken out of the cockpit, are you forgiven because you are kind of blind, or something else? Once again, I know each situation may vary, but say it was like the scenario you shared about another airplane not pulling forward enough and you clip them. If you could guess what would the repercussions be?
Each case varies. However, it’s inevitable for a little talk with the chief pilot when any of these incidents happens I’d imagine. The airline will investigate on their own and decide whose responsibility it is. If it’s yours, I would think they’ll send you back to some kind of training for a couple of days.
Cameron,
Each situation is different, but the investigation into any incident or accident usually begins with a drug test, and then a thorough investigation of the pilots, video tapes, ATC communications, etc. People do not usually get fired if it was an honest mistake, but there is usually some re-training involved. Of course, the FAA usually does their own investigation and can also order re-training.
Chris
Cameron,
As the others have said it depends. Most airlines have something called an ERC (Event Review Committee) which is comprised of a Union Rep, Company Rep and the FAA. They will review all the evidence and serve as judge and jury to determine culpability. The airlines and the FAA generally don’t like the term “punishment” as it has a negative connotation, fixes little and the fear of it can often make things worse. Remediation (nicer word) can mean anything from additional training in the classroom or sim to extreme (and rare cases) where I’ve seen Capt’s downgraded. I was a Human Factors instructor at my last airline and was able to participate in some of he ERC’s work. I can tell you from experience there are basically only 2 kinds of meetings. The ERC will ask you what happened and why did you do what you did? Based on your answer it’ll go one of two ways: A) If you can point to something in a manual and state “according to the book I did the following”, while that may not always be the best answer it’s never a bad one (like the GEICO commercial). B) “well I thought, I heard, I know a guy in maintenance, at my last airline we”, etc etc etc. and then things don’t go so well.
The moral of the story is to follow the regs and your company’s policies and procedures and you’ll have a long happy career. Don’t and you may not.
Adam