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| Date: | Tuesday 12 July 2022 |
| Time: | c. 22:40 UTC |
| Type: |  Boeing 737-7Z5 (WL) BBJ |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Jet |
| Registration: | A6-AIN |
| MSN: | 29268/280 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1999 |
| Engine model: | CFMI CFM56-7B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 7 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Incident |
| Location: | Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH/OMAA) -
 United Arab Emirates
|
| Phase: | Taxi |
| Nature: | Executive |
| Departure airport: | Grozny Airport (GRV/URMG) |
| Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH/OMAA) | |
| Investigating agency: | GCAA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On 12 July 2022, at 2238 UTC (13 July 2022 at 0238 local time), a BBJ 737-700 Aircraft, registration marks A6-AIN, operated by Royal Jet, landed on runway (RWY) 13R at Abu Dhabi International Airport (OMAA) arriving from Grozny Airport (UMRG), Russia. There were seven persons on board, consisting of two flight crew members, four cabin crew members, and one engineer.
The flight crew of the Aircraft initiated communication with Abu Dhabi Tower at 2235:11 on frequency 119.200 MHz, while the Aircraft was approaching for RWY 13R, about eight nautical miles from the threshold.
At 2235:18, the Tower controller provided the flight crew with the current QNH and instructed the crew to continue approach RWY 13R. The crew read back correctly.
At 2236:51, the Tower controller gave the flight crew the clearance to land stating, "Royal Jet zero zero three, surface wind one eight zero degrees, five knots, runway one three right cleared to land.” The flight crew read back the clearance correctly and requested to vacate the runway via taxiway Echo 15, and the controller granted the request.
At 2239:41, upon vacating the runway, the Tower controller instructed the flight crew to follow the green lights to the General Aviation Apron, which was acknowledged by the crew.
At 2240:16, the Tower controller cleared the Aircraft to vacate RWY 13R via taxiway Echo 15, and to follow the green lights for taxiing to General Aviation Apron, designated as Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA) Apron. The Aircraft vacated the runway via taxiway Echo 15 at a speed of 15 knots.
At 2241:53, the Aircraft entered taxiway Foxtrot 5 towards ADA Apron at a speed of 9 knots.
At 2243:14, the Aircraft made a right turn at the end of taxiway Foxtrot 5, and entered ADA Apron at a speed of 5 knots (figures 1 and 2).
At that time, another Royal Jet aircraft, BBJ 737-700, registration marks A6-RJV, was parked at ADA Apron, VIP stand, temporarily for immediate maintenance, and was scheduled for repositioning to another apron near RWY 13R for a scheduled morning departure.
According to the statement of the ground personnel who parked the A6-RJV, it was positioned approximately two meters behind the stop mark (figure 3), which moved its tail two meters further back into the taxilane 3 area. According to him, these parking stands are designed to accommodate Dash 8 aircraft and if the nose gear of BBJ 737-700 is parked on the designated nose wheel stop line, it might have hit another aircraft moving in front.
According to the CCTV footage, at 2244:10, the Aircraft reached behind the parked aircraft, and the Aircraft right wingtip hit the left-hand horizontal stabilizer tip of the parked aircraft.
According the flight crew and the ground staff’s statements, the Aircraft was following the taxilane center line. The Commander reduced the speed, stopped for a brief time, and asked the Copilot to check wing clearance. However, collision has already occurred. The Commander was not aware of the collision as per his statement. The Copilot stated the same.
There were two ground personnel:
− A ground support equipment operator
waiting for the Aircraft at the designated
parking position as a signalman to assist
the commander using illuminated wands
since it was night time as per the
Operator’s Ground Operations Manual
(GOPS), Chapter 7 — Safety Rules
During Aircraft Handling, and
− A wingman, assigned to assist the
signalman in judging the safe distance
between the Aircraft and obstacles.
The CCTV footage showed that as the Aircraft's nose reached behind the parked aircraft, the wingman ran towards it, positioning himself to the right side of the Aircraft and behind the parked aircraft. He then began providing hand signals to the copilot, but the collision had already occurred. According to Operator’s (GOPS) Manual, if used, the wingman shall be in a position so that he can be seen by the signalman and clearly can observe the distance between aircraft and obstacles.
The signalman left his original position, walked in front of the Aircraft, and then started providing marshaling guidance.
At 2245:40, the Aircraft resumed moving with the guidance of the signalman at a taxi speed between 3-5 knots, turned right and stopped at its final position.
The flight crew shut down the engines and performed the parking procedure in accordance with the checklist. The flight crew was notified about the damage of the Aircraft afterwards.
The AAIS notified the air navigation service provider and Abu Dhabi Airports after receiving the occurrence notification from the Operator.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.gcaa.gov.ae/en/departments/airaccidentinvestigation/Lists/Incidents%20Investigation%20Reports/Attachments/165/AIFN00072022-%20Summary%20Report.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10650212 (Photo)
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Jul-2025 20:17 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 17-Jul-2025 20:17 | Justanormalperson | Updated [Accident report, ] |
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