Boeing 757-222 N571UA

Summary

On 12 June 2011 at about 00:58 local time, a Boeing 757-222 registered N571UA, operated by United Air Lines Inc, was involved in an accident near San Fransico, California, United States. 190 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 June 2011 at 00:58

Classification

Accident

Location

San Fransico, California, United States

Nearest airport

San Francisco International (KSFO)

Coordinates

37.6181, -122.3878

Aircraft

Boeing 757-222

Registration

N571UA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

United Air Lines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Fransico → Chicago

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA11CA073

Nobody was injured.

The ramp personnel's failure to visually verify the position of the jetway before beginning the airplane pushback.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On June 16, 2011 at approximately 1758 pacific daylight time, United flight 818, a Boeing 757-200, registration N571UA, was substantially damaged during initial pushback from gate 73 at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, California. There were no injuries to the 188 passengers and crew onboard. The flight was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from SFO to Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois. United representatives reported that normal passenger and crew boarding was accomplished using door 2L. The passenger loading bridge (PLB) operator stated she was in position at the loading bridge controls and was prepared to retract the bridge. She reported that the airplane door was closed and the loading bridge canopy was retracted. The PLB operator stated she was waiting for hand signal guidance from the ramp personnel to retract the bridge from the airplane. The PLB operator stated the signal to retract the bridge from the airplane was not received, however, the ramp personnel proceeded to push back the airplane. The ramp employee responsible for the airplane pushback reported that he heard the PLB bell ringing for about one minute, which he thought was enough time for the jetway to be cleared from the airplane. He reported that he then removed the chalks, received clearance from the flight crew, and then commenced to push back the airplane. As a result of the impact with the jetway, the airplane received a 38 inch x 8.5 inch hole in the fuselage between Fuselage Station (FS) 490 and FS 528 and stringer S-17L and S-18L resulting in damage to frame assemblies and stringers in this area.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.