The accident investigators, the AAIB, have released a full report, and it's quite the story!
Here's how it all went down: It was March 22nd, 2023, around 1:00 pm, and a 32-year-old pilot was getting ready to fly back to Gloucester after landing earlier that day.
While he was taxiing his plane, he noticed a van parked on Taxiway A. Yep, you heard it right—a van on a taxiway!
It turns out, the van driver was inside a local café, dropping off some deliveries. The driver didn't even realize he was parked on an active taxiway, which, by the way, he didn't have permission to be on in the first place. Crazy, right? He said he usually parked behind the café and didn't see any signs or barriers stopping him from entering.
So, the pilot thought he could squeeze past the van and another aircraft that was partially parked on the same taxiway. Bad move. The plane's wingtip brushed against the van, causing some damage to both. The plane's navigation light got messed up, and there were some scrapes on the wingtip. As for the van, it had some damage on its right side, near the wing mirror.
After looking into it, the AAIB concluded that the pilot didn't have enough room to pass the van safely. Plus, they noted how tricky it can be to judge your wingspan from inside the cockpit. They also made it clear that the delivery man shouldn't have been parked there, and he probably wasn't insured for that sort of thing either.
The good news? Lessons were learned. The delivery company told its drivers to park in the parking lot from now on, no more risky business on the taxiway. As for the airfield, they're going to take a closer look at their entry signage to make sure people know they're entering an active airfield
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