Date:	Monday 16 December 2024
Time:	16:28 LT
Type:	Boeing 737-8K5 (WL)
Owner/operator:	TUI Airways
Registration:	G-TAWB
MSN:	37242/3917
Year of manufacture:	2012
Engine model:	CFMI CFM56-7B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 131
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	None
Category:	Accident
Location:	East Midlands Airport (EMA/EGNX) -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	East Midlands Airport (EMA/EGNX)
Destination airport:	Lanzarote Airport (ACE/GCRR)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A TUI Airways cabin crew member on board a Boeing 737-800 sustained serious injuries after falling onto the apron at Stand 9 at East Midlands Airport (EMA), U.K.

The crew of G-TAWB were due to operate a scheduled return flight to Arrecife Airport, Lanzarote from East Midlands Airport. The flight had a scheduled departure time of 15:10 but the aircraft was running late due to a delay earlier in the day on a previous flight. This delay resulted in a new expected departure time of 16:00. The crew prepared
and briefed for the flight before they proceeded to the stand to wait for the aircraft to arrive.
G-TAWB arrived on Stand 9 at the airport at 15:38. In attendance for the flight were a team of four ramp agents led by a team leader. They were responsible for the positioning of equipment including ground power unit, front and rear steps, the offload of the previous flight’s baggage before the loading of the baggage for Lanzarote and the pushback for departure once the loading was complete. Also responsible for the turnaround was a dispatcher who was required to plan the aircraft load, provide information on that plan to the team leader and the aircraft commander, and finally to complete the flight paperwork before the flight departure. The dispatcher was accompanied by a trainee dispatcher who was to observe the turnaround as part of his development.
Both front and rear steps were positioned and at 16:22 passenger boarding for the flight to Lanzarote was complete and the rear steps were removed. The dispatcher and the trainee dispatcher proceeded up the front steps to liaise with the flight crew and to pass their completed paperwork prior to the aircraft departure. At 16:27 the trainee dispatcher proceeded down the front steps from the aircraft with the dispatcher remaining at the top of the steps to complete the aircraft door closing procedure. Another dispatcher who had completed his own flight had arrived to assist and he began to retract the stabiliser legs from the front steps in preparation for their removal.
At 16:28 the door closure began with the SCCM releasing the gust lock on the front door and beginning to move it towards the closed position. At the same time two of the ramp agents began to push the steps away from the aircraft. The SCCM fell into the gap created between the aircraft and the steps and was seriously injured. The dispatcher was also on the top of the steps but was able to hang onto the side rail to prevent himself falling.

AAIB Conclusion
The SCCM fell from steps as they were pulled away before the aircraft door was closed and the steps vacated. She suffered serious injuries in the fall.
The step removal process was conducted in a way that was not consistent with the written policy and had insufficient safeguards to prevent movement of the steps with people on them or the door still open. This procedural workaround had been used by the staff at the ground handling company for many years at East Midlands and at many other airports in the UK.
The presence of a dispatcher at the bottom on the steps releasing the stabilisers triggered the steps to be moved without an effective check or confirmation that the door was closed and the steps were vacated. The presence of multiple dispatchers, without the ramp team knowing who the official dispatcher was, set the conditions for this event to occur. The step removal procedure required that the ramp staff check that there were no personnel on the steps before the stabilisers were retracted but the procedures did not specify how this was to be performed nor who was responsible for it.

1. NTSB DCA25WA059: https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/ResultsV2.aspx?queryId=310d66ef-b481-494f-829a-f4b7c0ee7c4f
2. East Midlands Ambulance Service: https://www.emas.nhs.uk/news/latest-news
3. https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/air-ambulance-called-east-midlands-9805486
4. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/tui-cabin-crew-member-rushed-30624397
5. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/tui-crew-member-injured-falling-9806403
6. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/tui-flight-attendant-horror-fall-30624398
7. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-tawb#385e3f2f
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Midlands_Airport

Air ambulance called to East Midlands Airport after TUI steward's horror fall https://t.co/Z9QnBNIuzk

— NottinghamshireLive (@nottslive) December 19, 2024

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
19-Dec-2024 09:58	ASN	Added
19-Dec-2024 15:43	ASN	Updated [Departure airport, Source, ]
19-Dec-2024 17:55	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ]
19-Dec-2024 18:21	ASN	Updated [Time, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ]
19-Dec-2024 18:24	ASN	Updated [Time, Narrative, ]
19-Feb-2025 08:49	ASN	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, ]
25-Sep-2025 09:20	ASN	Updated [Total occupants, Nature, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report, ]
25-Sep-2025 18:39	ASN	Updated [Time, Narrative, ]