Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 18 December 2010
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-3H4 (WL)
Owner/operator: Southwest Airlines
Registration Number: N650SW
Location: Philadelphia International Airport, PA (PHL/KPHL) – ÿ United States of America
Phase of Flight: Pushback / towing
Status: Minor
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 105
Component Affected: Wing spar and horizontal stabilizer of N913WNWing spar and horizontal stabilizer of N913WN
Category: Accident
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 and Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 collided during pushback at Philadelphia International Airport, resulting in damage to both aircrafts. The incident occurred due to a failure by ground operations personnel to maintain awareness of the relative positions of the aircraft.A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 and Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 collided during pushback at Philadelphia International Airport, resulting in damage to both aircrafts. The incident occurred due to a failure by ground operations personnel to maintain awareness of the relative positions of the aircraft.

Description

Southwest Airlines flight WN2592, a Boeing 737-700 (N913WN) and Southwest Airlines flight WN3944, a Boeing 737-300 (N650SW) collided during pushback from the gate at Philadelphia International Airport, PA. The left wing and horizontal stabilizer of N913WN contacted the right winglet and horizontal stabilizer of N650SW. chad been previously pushed back and awaiting taxi clearance at the time of the incident. The tug operator reported he looked away at an uninvolved airplane and when he looked back, the wing walker was signalling him to stop, but he was unable to stop prior to impact. N913WN was substantially damaged due to the impact to the wing spar. N650SW had minor damage. There were no injuries to the 10 total crew members, 215 total passengers, and 2 ground operations personnel Probable Cause: the failure of the ground operations personnel to maintain awareness of the relative position of the two airplanes.

Primary Cause

Failure of ground operations personnel to maintain awareness of the relative position of the two airplanes.Failure of ground operations personnel to maintain awareness of the relative position of the two airplanes.

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