- Date
- September 8, 1985, 16:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Washington, DC
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 175 uninjured; on the ground: 1 minor
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N1842UMcdonnell Douglas DC-10-10
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 30, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850908051949I
- Case key
- 11155
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Northwest flight 78 (NW78), a B-757, was parked at gate 17 facing east with mobile passenger lounge (mpl) docked at L1 door. United 52, a DC-10, taxied in easterly direction by left side of NW78, then turned right to southeasterly heading to follow lead-in line to gate 15. DC-10 was on lead-in heading with nosewheel about 3' to 6' right of line & following signals from guideman, when right wingtip struck aft end of mpl. Driver of mpl was standing on gangway & fell backward into 757 & received minor injury. Both planes received minor damage; mpl was substantially damaged. United had recently begun to use gate 15 for DC-10'S. At that time, nw was using DC-10 on flt 78, which deplaned thru L2 door, but a week before incident, DC-10 was replaced with 757 that normally deplaned thru L1 door. NW78'S arrival was late that day, so deplaning was still in progress when flight 52 arrived. Measurements confirmed insufficient clearance existed for DC-10 at gate 15, when mpl was docked with 757 at gate 17.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1842U
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-10-10
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 46635
- Engine
- GE CF6-6D, 41,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Airlines
- Registered owner
- Bank Of New York
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- LAX · Los Angeles, CA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- IAD · Dulles Intl
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 13,000 total · 200 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- IAD
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.