Argentina has been dealing with a terrible storm in recent days, which turned deadly in the port city of Bahía Blanca, and has hit the capital city of Buenos Aires in the past day. This caused quite the impact on airport operations, with one particularly noteworthy incident.
In this post:
Aerolineas Argentinas 737 gets loose in storm
Video footage has emerged of an Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 737 being blown around in the wind while parked at Buenos Aires’ Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP). This incident involves a roughly 17-year-old Boeing 737-700 with the registration code LV-CAD.
In the video circulating widely online, you can see the parked jet start to move due to wind gusts. The plane starts to turn sharply to the right, with the left wing hitting ground equipment (including air stairs), before eventually coming to a stop again in a completely different direction.
I’m curious how bad the damage is to this aircraft, and how many other aircraft were damaged. The airport saw winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour (~80 miles per hour), so those are pretty strong winds.
Was the plane properly secured?
This is beyond my area of expertise, but I’m curious, as I’m sure some OMAAT readers have insights. Typically airlines make an effort to fly planes out of airports prior to major storms, to avoid damage as much as possible. I’m not sure if the airline just wasn’t anticipating such a bad storm, or if that would have simply been too big of an undertaking, given that Buenos Aires is the carrier’s only home base.
I am curious if best practices were otherwise used here. For example, with gusts so strong, you’d think that you’d want to move the ground equipment away from aircraft, so that they don’t potentially collide (as we’ve seen here)? Similarly, it looks to me like wheel chocks were being used to secure the location of the plane, though I can’t tell with certainty?
Ultimately planes moving in extreme wind conditions is nothing new, and it’s something we’ve seen many times before. However, sometimes the planes just have their nose lift off, before again being in place. It’s rare to see a plane move at an angle like this while parked.
Bottom line
An Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 737 suffered damage during a storm that ripped through Buenos Aires overnight. The plane was parked at a remote stand at Jorge Newbery Airport, and ended up getting loose, turning significantly to the right, and then hitting ground equipment.
What do you make of this incident? Anyone know if this was unavoidable, or if the plane just somehow wasn’t secured correctly?
I should have added: Airport Unions were heavily involved in recent elections. DL in particular, DL 101 from ATL-EZE, was 12 hours late taking off at least once a week for a couple months before. Which meant DL 110, the return flight, missed all its connections. No other US carrier had any problems. Since the election DL 101 hasn't had any problems ...
I've been to Buenos Aires twice in the past two months, EZE is the International Airport, AEP along the waterfront. AEP had a line of AA planes parked in front of a Hangar, looked like they'd been there for a while. EZE had larger planes also parked. Economy then was 750 pesos to the Dollar, taxi ride from downtown to EZE (via AEP, driver wasn't paying attention), $7.US, my hotel room was 87% off. New Pres 'devalued' the Peso 50% more. Doubt many have money to fly.
its is sad the the airlines got lost in the strom
The plane that moved was the plane being videoed. What a surprise.
Every airline I have worked for has a high wind plan which includes triple chalking the gear and removing all equipment (including cones) away from the aircraft and against or under the terminal. Bag carts were hooked together in small circles or chalked if we had enough, with as much stuff placed inside and then larger equipment like tugs and GPUs placed around he outside of the circle if possible. Towbars were also chalked.
The best way to secure these in high winds isn’t really chocks or parking brake. The chocks only stop the wheels from rolling, but the tail is a huge lever arm. The parking brake relies on brake accumulator pressure in the hydraulic system. To weigh it down, the jet should have been fueled. A 737-700 weighs about 90000 lbs… at least 20-25k of the 46.8k capacity would have put the centre of gravity squarely on...
The best way to secure these in high winds isn’t really chocks or parking brake. The chocks only stop the wheels from rolling, but the tail is a huge lever arm. The parking brake relies on brake accumulator pressure in the hydraulic system. To weigh it down, the jet should have been fueled. A 737-700 weighs about 90000 lbs… at least 20-25k of the 46.8k capacity would have put the centre of gravity squarely on the mains and lower down the fuselage, requiring more force for that lever arm to rotate the airplane along the tail.
737s are tail heavy. fuel near the center of mass isn/t going to do much when it comes to weathervaning. Triple chalking, with rubber chalks, would be the best bet. Notice how the plane pivots on the right gear and the left gear was free to move. Chalks on the left gear would have prevented the left gear from "rolling"
The best way to secure these in high winds isn’t really chocks or parking brake. The chicks only stop the wheels from rolling, but the tail is a huge lever arm. The parking brake relies on brake accumulator pressure in the hydraulic system. To weigh it down, the jet should have been fueled. A 737-700 weighs about 90000 lbs… at least 20-25k of the 46.8k capacity would have put the centre of gravity squarely on...
The best way to secure these in high winds isn’t really chocks or parking brake. The chicks only stop the wheels from rolling, but the tail is a huge lever arm. The parking brake relies on brake accumulator pressure in the hydraulic system. To weigh it down, the jet should have been fueled. A 737-700 weighs about 90000 lbs… at least 20-25k of the 46.8k capacity would have put the centre of gravity squarely on the mains and lower down the fuselage, requiring more force for that lever arm to rotate the airplane along the tail.
It was not secured properly. What a shame. The airline might not be the best, but the livery is a top 5 globally.
I was just in Buenos Aires last month. I love going there, its an amazing city. The exchange rate was wild. $1 got you around 280 pesos "officially" or through the "blue note" exchange 1000 pesos to the $1 - which makes a HUGE difference.
An amazing city, amazing people, great great...
It was not secured properly. What a shame. The airline might not be the best, but the livery is a top 5 globally.
I was just in Buenos Aires last month. I love going there, its an amazing city. The exchange rate was wild. $1 got you around 280 pesos "officially" or through the "blue note" exchange 1000 pesos to the $1 - which makes a HUGE difference.
An amazing city, amazing people, great great food. Also cheap apartments in Recoleta and all over. Highly recommend a visit.
Seeing as none of the many other aircraft on the line are even twitching in the wind, I have to wonder if this one was not properly secured. Chocks? Parking Break?
Perhaps they figured that, given where the company's financial viability is likely headed [in light of the proposed cutoff of state aid], why bother going out of the way to move equipment?
In all seriousness, they probably just figured it wouldn't be that bad. How many avoidable disasters, over the years, have started with that...
"... those are pretty strong windows."
I think you meant winds.
@ Lukas -- Fixed, thanks!