- Date
- July 11, 2006, 15:25 local (19:25 UTC)
- Place
- Indianapolis, IN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N40978Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report October 31, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20060711022179A
- Case key
- 64302
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The failure of the tug driver to maintain clearance from the airplane taxiing on an active taxiway. A factor was the night conditions.
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
A tug used to move ground carts collided with the left side of a twin-engine airplane while the airplane was taxiing on an active taxiway at night. The air traffic control (ATC) tower had cleared the airplane to taxi to the active runway via Delta taxiway. The airplane collided with the tug at the intersection of Delta taxiway and a service road. The tug was pulling five carts and was traveling from left to right through the intersection. The pilot reported that after the collision he saw a ground vehicle under the left engine and initially thought it was an abandoned vehicle because he did not see any lights on the vehicle. The pilot notified ATC concerning the collision, and then shut down the airplane. The tug driver reported that he stopped before entering the intersection and did not see any of the airplane's lights.
Factual narrative
A tug used to move ground carts collided with the left side of a twin-engine airplane while the airplane was taxiing on an active taxiway at night. The air traffic control (ATC) tower had cleared the airplane to taxi to the active runway via Delta taxiway. The airplane collided with the tug at the intersection of Delta taxiway and a service road. The tug was pulling five carts and was traveling from left to right through the intersection. The pilot reported that after the collision he saw a ground vehicle under the left engine and initially thought it was an abandoned vehicle because he did not see any lights on the vehicle. The pilot notified ATC concerning the collision, and then shut down the airplane. The tug driver reported that he stopped before entering the intersection and did not see any of the airplane's lights.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N40978
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-8152199
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- AirNet Systems
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- IND · Indianapolis, IN
- Destination
- IND · Indianapolis, IN
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- IND · Indianapolis International
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 23
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Flight hours
- 1,319 total · 63 in this make and model · 136 in the last 90 days · 83 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N40978 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.