- Date
- September 12, 2014, 20:26 local (Sep 13, 2014, 01:26 UTC)
- Place
- Chicago, IL
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 37 uninjured; on the ground: 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N16147Embraer EMB 145XR
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Ground collision
- Weather
- Night
- Status
- Completed · report August 23, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- FAA report
- 20140912015899A
- Case key
- 90189
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 tractor driver's failure to give way to the taxiing airplane.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
On September 12, 2014, about 2026 central daylight time, an ExpressJet ERJ145XR, dba United Express flight 4528, N16147, was struck by a United Airlines baggage tractor while taxiing to the gate at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD), Chicago, Illinois. There were no injuries to the 37 passengers and crew members onboard the airplane and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The tractor driver received minor injuries. The flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Joe Foss Field (KSFD), Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to KORD. According to the operator, the flight had just landed and was taxiing on taxi-way A from the east and had just switched to United Ground Control. The flight was instructed to taxi from A to the alley and transition to the "B" side "J"-line and taxi to gate E2. As the airplane entered the United Airlines control area, a baggage tractor drove into the path of the taxiing airplane on the roadway between the gates C-29 and B-16. The airplane was unable to stop and the right wing struck the moving baggage tractor, knocking it onto its right side. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and right leading edge.
Factual narrative
On September 12, 2014, about 2026 central daylight time, an ExpressJet ERJ145XR, dba United Express flight 4528, N16147, was struck by a United Airlines baggage tractor while taxiing to the gate at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD), Chicago, Illinois. There were no injuries to the 37 passengers and crew members onboard the airplane and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The tractor driver received minor injuries. The flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Joe Foss Field (KSFD), Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to KORD. According to the operator, the flight had just landed and was taxiing on taxi-way A from the east and had just switched to United Ground Control. The flight was instructed to taxi from A to the alley and transition to the "B" side "J"-line and taxi to gate E2. As the airplane entered the United Airlines control area, a baggage tractor drove into the path of the taxiing airplane on the roadway between the gates C-29 and B-16. The airplane was unable to stop and the right wing struck the moving baggage tractor, knocking it onto its right side. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and right leading edge.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N16147
- Reported as
- Embraer EMB 145XR (XR)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 145749
- Built
- 2003
- Engines
- Rolls-Royc AE3007 SER, turbo fanRolls-Royc AE3007 SER, turbo fan
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- ExpressJet Airlines, doing business as United Express
- Registered owner
- Wells Fargo Bank Northwest Na Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- KFSD · Sioux Falls, SD
- Destination
- KORD · Chicago, IL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- KORD · Chicago O-HAre
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Age
- 29
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 5-point
Weather
- Conditions
- Night
- Wind
- 330° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,400 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.27 inHg
- Icing
- Unknown
- Turbulence
- Unknown
- Observed at
- KORD
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 26, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 218 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.