- Date
- April 25, 1991, 16:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Chicago, IL
- Injuries
- 119 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N6815Boeing 727-223
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910425028239I
- Case key
- 14929
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The failure of the ground crew to properly align the airplane in the gate alley during the push back from the gate.
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
N6815 was pushed back from gate H-3 into the gate alley. As the airplane was being turned out to taxi for takeoff, the horizontal stabilizer contacted the elevator of another Boeing 727 which was parked at gate H-1. The flight crew of N6815 had received a release salute from the ground crew prior to the taxi.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6815
- Reported as
- Boeing 727-223
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19490
- Engine
- turbo jet
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- American Airlines, Inc.
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- ORD · O'Hare
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
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 18,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ORD, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.