tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 81 Reply 2, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 20004 times:
Quoting heavy747 (Thread starter): Just read that one of the test 748F's had a little incident with a tug.
Boeing posted it on their twitter feed pretty soon after it happened.
From those pictures, it doesn't look like the engine was hit at all, just the nacelle. Still important, but way easier (and cheaper!) to repair/replace.
c5load From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 917 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 19906 times:
What I am trying to figure out is how it happened. It doesn't say the cause in the story. Did the airplane get towed into the tug, or did someone accidentally drive the tug into the airplane?
"But this airplane has 4 engines, it's an entirely different kind of flying! Altogether"
kl671 From Canada, joined Jul 2005, 136 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 19813 times:
Quoting c5load (Reply 3): It doesn't say the cause in the story. Did the airplane get towed into the tug, or did someone accidentally drive the tug into the airplane?
The link states that the tug was parked at the time of the incident.
Stitch From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 26682 posts, RR: 83 Reply 5, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 19774 times:
The nacelle has been repaired / replaced and the plane is back in flight test, per the latest reports.
c5load From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 917 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 19372 times:
Quoting kl671 (Reply 4): The link states that the tug was parked at the time of the incident.
Guess it might help if I hadn't just breezed through the article.
"But this airplane has 4 engines, it's an entirely different kind of flying! Altogether"
ua777222 From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 3348 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 18462 times:
You would think Boeing would want a wing walker on all their aircraft regardless of how remote or unpopulated the airport is. Though VCV is obviously full of aircraft movements.
The aircraft was clearly tugged into the parked tug as the damage was contained to the front of the engine (implying it was struck from the front).
Boo-boo for whoever was doing the ground movement.
cf6ppe From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 306 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 18189 times:
Quoting Stitch (Reply 5): The nacelle has been repaired / replaced and the plane is back in flight test, per the latest reports.
From the blog item and photos, it appears that the damaged area is confined to the nose cowl. Most likely, the damaged nose cowl was removed and replaced with a serviceable (mostly likely, a new) unit.
What happened here happens in use in the industry. Usually, the damaged hardware is removed and replaced and the damaged hardware is sent to a capable sheet metal shop or returned to the manufacturer who has the proper jigs and parts needed to affect a repair.
Anyway, there is usually a lot of high decibel conversation; sometimes the conversation is one-way... if you get the drift...
danimarroquin From Colombia, joined Jan 2005, 447 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 18068 times:
wow, I was just thinking how massive this engines are , that even engine number four is so closed to the ground that it could hit a towing truck . which is the lowest vehicle in a airport " amazing " !!! .
MrSkyGuy From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 1203 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 17521 times:
Quoting 747classic (Reply 10): This incident has been discussed for several days already in following thread :
Official 747-8 Flight Tracking Thread (by moderators Feb 19 2010 in Civil Aviation)
In defense of the OP, the thread you've quoted is huge and difficult to follow.. this was an isolated incident not truly a "flight tracking" report/discussion.
"The strength of the turbulence is directly proportional to the temperature of your coffee." -- Gunter's 2nd Law of Air
FX1816 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 1400 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 17125 times:
Wow, so that is what it was. I went over there last Thursday and saw them working on the number 4 engine but the way they had parked it, it was hard to see. Although I kind of thought something was up, VCV tower called for the clearance for BOE522 and not too long after I gave it to them, VCV tower called back to cancel the clearence, they just told us that from what they were told it would not be leaving. I do believe it did go today as there was another flight plan that came out this afternoon.
ORDFan From United States of America, joined Jun 2007, 232 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 8581 times:
Actually, I'm kind of surprised at how much damage there was to the tug compared to the engine cowl. I would think that the cowl/engine to be the more fragile of the two, but by the look of those photos, I'd say the tug got the worst of the collision! Pretty impressed by the cowl's overall sturdiness....
dragon6172 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 1160 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 8301 times:
Quoting ORDFan (Reply 13): Actually, I'm kind of surprised at how much damage there was to the tug compared to the engine cowl. I would think that the cowl/engine to be the more fragile of the two, but by the look of those photos, I'd say the tug got the worst of the collision! Pretty impressed by the cowl's overall sturdiness....
I would guess that it is because the cowl was hit in the direction that it typically has a force applied, while the tug was not.
FX1816 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 1400 posts, RR: 5 Reply 16, posted (2 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2955 times:
Quoting Aeolus (Reply 15): So first incident and not yet delivered... could this go into an incident report even if not flying for a customer yet?
-Aeolus
I doubt it, this incident has nothing to do with the aircraft itself, they just must not have had wingwalkers while towing it.