Qatar Airways may be dealing with ongoing Airbus A350 paint issues, but one Boeing 777 has a much bigger problem after slicing into a metal post at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Four pilots have been fired as a result.
Qatar Airways 777 Wing Damaged After Collision At Chicago O’Hare
The incident occurred at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) on August 5th. A Boeing 777-FDZ (registration A7-BFH), which is part of Qatar Airways’ cargo fleet landed from Atlanta (ATL) at 8:45pm and was scheduled to continue on to Maastricht (MST) a few hours later.
But the 777 received damaged to its right wind leading edge after colliding with a metal lamppost on taxiway BB2. It isn’t clear the extent of the damage, but it looks pretty bad:
2015 built Qatar Airways Boeing 777-FDZ Aircraft ( A7-BFH) Received damages to it’s Right wing Leading edge (slat and wing structure) after it hit a lamp post, while taxiing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD) on 5th August.
📸@MZulqarnainBut1 / Matthew pic.twitter.com/PSKCo6XZZw
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) August 7, 2022
(Pilots – please feel free to give your take on the damages below)
A Qatar Airways spokesperson confirmed the incident:
“Qatar Airways can confirm that a cargo aircraft, QR8141 operating from Atlanta to Chicago, came into contact with a light post while taxiing at Chicago O’Hare and sustained some damage to the wing. The incident is currently under investigation and we can confirm that no crew members were injured.”
The four pilots in the cockpit have allegedly been terminated. As of tonight, August 7th, the aircraft remains in Chicago O’Hare.
CONCLUSION
A cargo-configured Qatar Airways 777 has sustained damages after an accident occurred at Chicago ORD. It appears the problem was pilot error and it is not clear how long it will take to make the aircraft airworthy again.
image: @MZulqarnainBut1 / Twitter
That looks fairly serious. The real question is what damage if any was done to the wing spar. If the spar is ok this should be a straightforward fix. If not it’s still repairable but it’s a whole lot more complicated.
Question: Why dismiss all four pilots and not just the two actually at the controls?
Because it’s Qatar. Someone should check if they are still alive.
I was wondering the same. It makes me wonder if they were drinking in the cockpit or something else stupid.
As far as I know the same happened on the EK flight out of DXB in December that came seconds away from crashing on takeoff. While traceable to the errors of the Captain, I heard that they fired all four pilots as they were all sitting in the cockpit at the time. While a bit extreme, at least they are holding people accountable unlike AA that has reinstated the pilot of the A321 at JFK who nearly crashed a perfectly fine aircraft.
What – how did American not fire those pilots? Wow, that is crazy, I already was staying away from American because of their horrible product and weak route network, but this is even more reason to avoid AA.
121Pilot did a post on it here at LALF like two weeks ago. Was an interesting take and is pretty astounding given the Captain’s response on being asked why he did what he did, “I don’t know. I don’t remember doing it.” And yes, he’s back flying again.
Holding people accountable is always a good thing, as long as it is the people who deserve to be held accountable.
Agreed, why I feel that firing all four (As also the case with the EK flight) is pretty extreme. Unless there were specific wrongdoings by all four that led up to it. In the case of the QR flight we don’t know yet. In the case of the EK flight the blame was clearly on the Captain.
You cant blame the lightpost, the post has been there at where it is all the time
His Excellency now has a wound that needs some salt rubbed into it.
The aircraft didn’t collide with a lamppost on on runway 10c as this article claims because there are no lamppost near runway 10c. This collision took place on taxiway BB2, as the aircraft was taxing to Qatar’s cargo facility which is located on the Northeast side of the airport. Landing on runway 10c to the west would have required the pilots depending on ATC’s instructions to traverse around the central deicing pad where things can get a bit dicey for pilots who may not be familiar with that area of the airport. Taxiway BB2 has a standing restriction advising pilots if their wingspan is over 118 ft they can not use BB2.
This isn’t the first time a lamppost has been struck on taxiway BB2 a few years ago a a brand new United Airlines 787-9 which hadn’t even enter revenue service was being taxied to the hangar when maintenance mistakenly turned onto BB2 and also hit a light pole. I don’t think all 4 pilots should have been fired because that area of the airport can be confusing to pilots not familiar with it as there are taxiways BB, BB1 and BB2 all within close proximity to each other. Also taxiway BB1 and BB2 intersect with taxiway BB. In my opinion ORD should just permanently close taxiway BB2.
If true (I have no idea) that is really interesting. As well it must be a assumed that the pilots were directed to taxi there by the tower who would have better known.
finally someone who actually knows what they are talking about. thx.
@Proschwit: this is very good insight. Thanks for your comment.
Here’s the flight track: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qr8141#2cf24884
Instruction from KORD Ground was:
Ground control (GC): “Qatar 67X heavy … can you make a left turn on L or is it too late?
QR67X (QR): “Too late.”
GC: “…All right, turn left on K, BB, then immediate left turn, then I want you to go to Z, hold short of 9R.”
QR: “OK, left on K, then left on BB, then Z and hold short of 9R? We were told to go [garbled] K, but that’s fine.”
GC: “That’s fine. BB, BB2, Z, hold short 9R.”
They then check twice to confirm that the instruction includes BB2. So it’s an error from both the ground controller and the pilot – the controller for routing a widebody onto a narrowbody taxiway and the pilot for accepting it.
I’m completely baffled as to why ORD would build a brand-new taxiway as ADG-III / Code C instead of ADG-V / Code E. That deicing ramp serves widebodies and it’s a through route!
Does anyone still believe the claims about the Qatar A350 and paint? No other airline has been unable to find resolution, Airbus have tried with Qatar but the Al-Baker child won’t play. The UK courts are progressively finding in favour of Airbus and one day soon Al-Baker is going to lose what face he has left.
I’ve seen the pictures…it’s not pretty. But I cannot imagine it is anything more than a cosmetic problem.
Looks like the post was in the way. Seems like Qatar can afford to get rid of pilots.
Those 4 pilots will be relieved. No Pilot wants to work at Qatar. Only out of desperation top down heavy management on pilots and cabin crew! All ME3 are terrible employers. Qatar being the worst!
Plural of damage is “damage”.