Collision with tug due to loss of brake pressure, BAe Avro RJ85, 15 December 2015
On 15 December 2015 a BAe Avro RJ85 registered EI-RJT was scheduled for a flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to London City Airport. It was pushed back from gate D24 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. After the first engine was started, the tug driver lowered the aircraft’s nose gear.
While starting the last engine, the brake pressure suddenly dropped and the aircraft began to move forward. The aircraft collided with the tug, resulting in substantial damage to the lower front fuselage and slight damage to the tug. There were no injuries.
Start-up phase
This serious incident was partially caused by hydraulic pressure decay from a fault in one or both parking brake motorised valves, and subsequent depletion of the brake accumulator below its design pressure.
The risk of a loss of control due to brake pressure loss is largely limited to the start-up phase, where the parking brake may be used with all three yellow hydraulic pumps switched off and the accumulator as sole source of hydraulic pressure.
Besides the full report, a separate Dutch summary has been published.