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| Date: | Thursday 9 April 1992 |
| Time: | 06:21 |
| Type: |  Boeing 747SP-31 |
| Owner/operator: | American Airlines |
| Registration: | N601AA |
| MSN: | 21962/439 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1980 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 152 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor, repaired |
| Location: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Taxi |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | |
| London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
This was the first flight undertaken by the two pilots after a seven day rest period in the USA. The flight engineer had previously operated on the 4th April. The aircraft landed at London Heathrow Airport at 0612 hrs UTC after an uneventful overnight, 5 hour 59 minute duration, transatlantic flight from New York JFK Airport. The aircraft was then taxied to the allocated parking stand, number L29, adjacent to Terminal 3, arriving on stand at 0621 hrs. The aircraft commenced to self manoeuvre onto the parking stand, and parked in the position normally used by the non-SP variants of the B747, which was too far forward to allow use of the outer (mobile) airbridge at the front left (L1) passenger door on this, the shorter B747 SP variant. Towards the end of the parking manoeuvre, part of the outer airbridge operating machinery had come into contact with the upper skin of the inboard section of the left wing of the aircraft. No impact had been felt on board the aircraft. The aircraft was then sufficiently far forward such that the inner (fixed) airbridge was aligned with the L1 door, and the passengers deplaned normally. The crew did not realise that any damage had been caused until after deplaning was complete.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5423007b40f0b61346000b1d/Boeing_747SP-31__N601AA_08-92.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10045564 (Photo)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Mar-2025 18:21 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 23-Mar-2025 18:21 | ASN | Updated [Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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