PHOTO: TV footage screenshot of the American Airlines plane that was hit by a tug.
Officials continue to investigate how a pushback tractor, or tug, at Baltimore-Washington International Airport crashed into an American Airlines jet bound for Dallas on Sunday, cancelling the flight after it caused major damage to the nosegear.
But one of the premier airport mainetenance experts in the country says by looking at the pictures it's clear the tow bar failed in some capacity.
The question is, how?
"When you're pushing back the aircraft, a few things can happen," Matthew Lykins, aviation safety investigator for Robson Forensic, told TravelPulse.com today. "I've actually had a lot of situations like this where the tow bar has failed and there are a few reasons."
The tug tractor itself caused the most damage, with its roof smashing into the Radome, the fiberglass cone to the nosegear that houses the aircraft's radar, and the rest of the truck catapulting into the landing gear.
Lykins said it's possible the tow bar wasn't securely fastened to the nosegear.
"If that's the case, it doesn't take long for that tug to run into the plane," he said.
Another potential cause, but admittedly the least plausible scenario Lykins said, is a failture to communicate.
"There's constant communication between the cockpit and the ground crew," he said. "If the pilot or co-pilot failed to release the parking break, that puts a lot of undue stress on that tow bar. That tug went into that aircraft so good you can tell there was a lot of potential energy there that was released fairly quickly."
No one was injured in the mishap.
Lykins said that, for the most part, these type of accidents are rare on the tarmac, noting that the ground crew, maintenance crew, re-fuelers, cleaning crew and more all perform a delicate, well-choreographed dance when a plane arrives or is about to depart.
"It's a prodecurally-driven task, and there's a step-by-step process," he said. "Flight attendants are involved, jetway folks are involved … it's an orchestrated process. Any link in the chain fails and there's a problem."
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