De Havilland DHC-8-202 N454YV

Summary

On 30 May 2005 at about 14:47 local time, a De Havilland DHC-8-202 registered N454YV was involved in an incident near Denver, Colorado, United States. 40 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 May 2005 at 14:47

Classification

Incident

Location

Denver, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Denver Intl (DEN)

Coordinates

39.8614, -104.6731

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-8-202

Registration

N454YV

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Gunnison

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN05IA084

Nobody was injured.

The improper procedures conducted by the ground personnel and the flight crew's failure to coordinate procedures with the ground personnel during push back operation which resulted in the collision between the ground support vehicle and the airplane. A contributing factor was the inadequate communication between the flight crew and ground crew during the push back operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During initial pushback, the trainee operating the ground support vehicle, turned the aircraft in the wrong direction, at which time, the supervisor took over control of the vehicle. During the supervisor's attempt to turn the aircraft around, the nose wheels rolled out of the vehicle's wheel cradle and up onto the ground support vehicle. An employee reported she overheard one of the flight crewmembers report to dispatch that the ground personnel was making a sharp turn and the crewmember thought the airplane was going to be pushed back into another airplane. The company which provided the ground support personnel stated the push back operation should have come to a stop and communication should have been conducted between the flight crew and ground crew to resolve all concerns about safe maneuvers.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.