Ground Support Worldwide - 10

INDUSTRY EXPERT
COLUMN:

GROUND HANDLING

It's Time to Tackle the Issue of
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Incidents
When impaired GSE causes damage to aircraft, it escalates a small incident
in to a much larger and more expensive problem.
By Laura Nelson

T

he Flight Safety Foundation estimates that
ramp accidents cost airlines around $10
billion each year, with vehicle collisions
contributing significantly to this figure.
For instance, it's estimated that damage to aircraft occurs roughly once every 1,000 flights - and
if an aircraft is damaged on the ramp, it will be
unavailable for approximately three to four days,
incurring an average cost of $225,000 per aircraft.

Small Incidents Escalate
However, these 'big' incidents involving collisions
with aircraft often have much smaller beginnings.
Minor vehicle-to-vehicle incidents airside, such as
those involving rover vehicles, baggage tugs, pushback tractors, hi-loaders and other ground support equipment (GSE), can - and do - escalate into
much bigger problems in the airside environment.
In our experience, many drivers don't report
vehicle-to-vehicle incidents. And when they do,
they are not investigated or even recorded in the
same manner as an incident involving an aircraft.
However, all vehicle-to-vehicle incidents
should be reported, not only to comply with the
guidelines of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA), but also because a robust
system of reporting and analysis will help operators investigate the root causes and find ways to
prevent incidents from happening again.

The Dangers of Unreported
Damage
That said, unreported damage to a vehicle, or
infrastructure, is all too common, and is usually
left to worsen over time, making it more expensive
to fix, while extending downtime and increasing
the potential impact on all-important aircraft
turnaround times.
One of the biggest issues, and costs, arises
where impaired equipment causes damage to
aircraft, escalating a small incident into a much
larger and more expensive problem. For instance,
if a van makes light contact with a hi-loader when
parking, a sensor could get damaged, which could
then cause the hi-loader to later come in contact
with an aircraft.
The five equipment types that most commonly
cause damage to aircraft on the ramp are ULDs
(unit load devices), pedestrian steps, cargo loaders,
belt loaders and pushback tractors (as per IATA's
Ground Damage Database 2017). These types
of vehicle-to-aircraft incidents are reported to
contribute to the $5 billion per year that airlines
have to spend on aircraft repair alone, downtime
and delay costs, according to the Flight Safety
Foundation.
These issues are one of the reasons why ground
handling operations can be a major challenge to
profitability for airside operations. In fact, IATA
estimates that our industry could save up to an
estimated $4 billion per year by improving safety
and reducing damage to aircraft, vehicles and
ground support equipment.

Managing Factors Within Your
Control

Photo courtesy of RTITB Airside

10 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

AUGUST 2019

Ground accidents and incidents airside are one
of the few factors impacting profitability and
safety that organizations can control and influence, unlike taxes and fuel prices. With the right
approach, our industry can positively influence
accident and incident rates to reduce damage and
the associated costs of ground handling incidents.
Ground Support Worldwide

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