Purported witness account;
"706 was suppose to be getting a compressor wash. Somehow the left
engine throttle was at max power, Igniter breakers were not pulled, and
the hydraulics were not on and brakes were bled down, and finally the
torque links were not connected… With this in mind put someone in the
cockpit untrained and no reason to be in there, to turn over the engines
for a compressor wash. The young lady pushed the button for the right
engine, then when time completed stopped it, she pushed the start button
for the left… Since it has a FADEC when the conditions were met the
engine spooled up and it lit off, in 3 seconds it was at 85% and jumping
the chalks. 5 seconds later it was over. I had two aircraft to inspect
that night. Only one left that morning Setting
- 975 had been in the night before and was swapped out and sent back.
On my walk around at the gate I found a flat spot on the tires. So with
an LC1 and nose tires, the lead decided to nose the aircraft in. That
put 975, 45 feet in front of 706 and closer to the hanger. A/C 916 was
backed into tail dock for throttle gearbox inspections.
Chain of events.
A cleaner was three feet forward of the pax door on 975, across from him
starting the process of changing the nose tires was a new mechanic. Two
other cleaners were inside of 975 as well as one mechanic. 975’s lead
was at the lead desk as well as one mechanic. On 706, Lead mechanic
xxxxxx told xxxxxx to do the cockpit part of comp wash
even with reservations. xxxx a new mechanic was sent to operate the
cart. The remaining two crew members were sent to trouble shoot Duct Mon
under wing. The inspector for 706 like myself had more than one a/c to
inspect and was in the office as well as acting supervisor. On 916 there
was a mechanic on each engine doing gearbox inspection. The third
mechanic was doing LC-2 check inspections. Acting lead xxxx xxx
When 706 engines started to get loud, I looked up and saw it jump the
chalks.xxxx xxx questioned himself why was the engine so loud for the
start of a comp wash. xxxx the mechanic running the cart ran away
noting that his shirt felt like he was going to be sucked into the
engine. The two mechanics under the wing hearing the engine, thought
that was not right and ran towards the ditch off to the right.
When 706 started moving xxx (the Cleaner) and the mechanic starting to
change the nose tires dived forward and away of 975. Willy was missed by
975 by a mere 5 inches.
706s pax door made first contact with 975 winglet underside violently
throwing it into the air. The wing came down on 706’s fuselage at the
point connection is painted on the side where it snapped into two
pieces. 706’s wing was pushed below 975’s wing and made contact with
it’s gear and lodged in place. The forward momentum, the down force on
the left wing on 706 and Inertia caused by the lock between 706’s wing
and 975 gear caused a 90 degree turn by 706 in which the nose and the
right main temporarily came off the ground. The nose was high enough
that the pax door was sheered off by a Tug that was still attached to
916. 706 stopped because its nose made contact with 916 nose. 3/4 way
through its 90 degree turn 706 left engine started ingesting 975 winglet
and was FODing out. 706 came to rest sitting on top of the large tug.
975 with first contact was pushed back about five feet. The locking of
its gear to 706’s wing made 975 also to do a 90 degree turn also. This
was when willy was just missed. This action also pushed 975 onto its
tail shattering it.
916 contact with 706 at the nose in a down ward movement, snapped 916
drag brace and caused the tail go into the air and pierce itself on the
tail stand. This movement threw xxxx xxx out of the aft equipment bay.
It is hard to believe that it took all of five seconds after 706 jumped
the chalks for all of this to occur and not Kill anyone. If 975 had not
been where it was…706 left wing would have clipped the hanger. That
with the left engine at max there would have been an explosion at the
least. With 916 being in the hanger on that side we would have lost the
hanger as well as many people."
