CEN16LA052

After landing in night visual meteorological conditions, the commuter flight proceeded to taxi to the ramp. Upon coming to a service road perpendicular to the taxiway, a vehicle moved directly across the airplane's taxi path. The flight crew immediately applied brakes to stop. While braking, the airplane's tail rocked aft and struck the ground. The flight crew contacted ground control to inform them about the vehicle incident and resumed taxi to the ramp, and the driver of the vehicle radioed the tower, informing them that he had cut off an aircraft. An inspection of the airplane by the operator revealed structural damage to the aft pressure bulkhead resulting from the tail strike.

On November 2, 2015, about 1925 central standard time, a Cessna 208 Caravan, N732MD, registered to Multi-Aero Inc., of Sarasota, Florida, and doing business as Air Choice One of St. Louis, Missouri, was substantially damaged during taxi after braking to avoid a ground vehicle at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). The pilot, co-pilot, and seven passengers were not injured. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight was being operated as a commuter passenger flight under the provisions of Federal Code of Regulations Part 135. The flight had originated from Ironwood, Michigan (IWD), and ORD was its final destination. After landing on Runway 27 at ORD, the flight crew proceeded to taxi to the ramp via Taxiway R. Upon coming to a service road perpendicular to the taxiway, a vehicle moved directly across their taxi path. The flight crew immediately applied brakes to stop. While braking, the airplane's tail section stuck the ground before stabilizing back to a normal stance on the landing gear. The flight crew contacted ground control to inform them about the vehicle incident and resumed taxi to the ramp. According to a report by the FAA inspector who responded to the accident scene, the driver of the service vehicle (OPS 11) had radioed the tower on frequency 120.75. The driver stated that he just cut off an aircraft on taxiway R. A few minutes later, the driver radioed on frequency 129.9 and reported that he was sorry. Both the pilot-in-command, and the first officer reported that they were cut off by the service vehicle and stopped the aircraft immediately to avoid collision. A special fight permit was issued by the FAA to ferry the aircraft from ORD to the company repair facility in St. Louis, Missouri, to accomplish repairs. As reported on NTSB Form 6120, an inspection of the airplane by the operator revealed structural damage to the aft pressure bulkhead.