The vehicle crashed into the body of the Saudia Boeing 787-9 at Heathrow Airport on May 28 at around 2:54pm – piercing a hole in the aircraft and leading to long delays
A driver lost control of a lorry which smashed into a grounded plane – after he ‘confused the accelerator for the brake’. The vehicle crashed into the body of the Saudia Boeing 787-9 at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday at around 2:54pm, piercing the aircraft and leading to long delays.
It came just minutes after passengers on the SVA105 flight from King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had departed the plane at Terminal 4 of the London-based airport. Baggage handlers at the scene described how the driver mixed up the pedals of the lorry and caused the damage.
One said: “The driver must have probably been trying to perform a safety protocol manoeuvre where, when approaching the aircraft, they hit the brakes on multiple occasions. They have a protocol where they have to fully stop several times when moving towards the aircraft. I think he confused the accelerator for the brakes – smashing into the plane near stand 414.
“The damage doesn’t look that big but it pierced right through the body of the aircraft, which makes it a serious incident.
“Fire fighters and the police came because even for a small technical error, everyone has to attend the site, so it becomes a major event.
“That aircraft won’t be able to go anywhere for a long time because they have to replace it and they have to be airtight to fly of course.”
The following flight from Heathrow to Jeddah was cancelled because of the damage, and passengers on the original flight suffered delays to their baggage reclaim.
The baggage handler said: “I don’t know what the damage is like within, but I presume ABM will be liable for the damage.
“As the lorry was inching closer, instead of doing a brake check, it just accelerated forwards into the plane.
“Everyone was shocked because all the work had to be stopped – it’s just so stupid and ridiculous, it’s almost laughable.
“I think it took over an hour to remove the lorry from the airport. They have to take pictures and take down witness reports from everyone involved like the pilot, the driver and the airport staff.
“It’s very rare that it happened – some of us have more than 15 years experience of baggage handling and between us we’ve never seen anything like it.” ABM and Saudia were contacted for comment.