FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• Lock wheels and casters on all equipment. (maintenance stands, heaters, power units, toolboxes, creepers, etc.)
• Add edge protection on edges and corners of ALL equipment possible. (Wherever it’s possible to add edge protection without impacting the function of that equipment.
• Emphasize situational awareness to new employees, remind everyone regularly. “Eyes up in the hangar!”
• Use checklists for aircraft intake and shutdown; as well as aircraft release and startup.
• Consider towing equipment - A remote tug that stops instantly is safer than a tractor that takes a foot or two to stop.
• Consider lower profile equipment when possible. A toolbox, tug or APU that can travel safely under wings and other surfaces will reduce the likelihood of some incidents.
• Assign wingwalkers whenever an aircraft is being moved or repositioned inside a hangar, or outdoors in close proximity to other aircraft and equipment.

Include aircraft edge protection on all leading and trailing edges and gear doors as well as other protruding surfaces such as antenna, prop tips and vortilons.

Brightly colored covers with flags make it edges easier to see, particularly in light-colored hangars while working with white aircraft.

We recommend that flight departments create a specific checklist for each aircraft type hosted or serviced in your hangar, and training for each individual charged with handling aircraft.

• Repositioning an aircraft and impacting against another aircraft or piece of equipment.
• Failing to set the brakes on equipment like APUs or toolboxes, which blow or are pushed into an aircraft.
• Ground equipment impacting the underside of a fuselage or wing because driver was looking straight forward and did not (or could not) see aircraft surfaces above.
• Tow bar failure. A tow bar was in poor condition or improperly fastened, resulting in loss of control of an aircraft.

Yes. There has never, in the history of aviation, been an incident resulting in hangar rash, that could not have been prevented!

The Flight Safety Foundation, estimates that “27,000 ramp accidents and incidents — one per 1,000 departures — occur worldwide every year. About 243,000 people are injured each year in these accidents and incidents; the injury rate is nine per 1,000 departures.”

Any incident on the ground (as opposed to in flight) is counted in those statistics. We don’t know how many of them involved stationary aircraft, or whether they occur in the hangar or on the ramp.

But we DO know that even a small scrape or bump can cause a serious injury or expensive repair bill!

That’s just the nature of aircraft.

• Time pressure. Incidents happen most often when teams are feeling pressure to get aircraft moved quickly.
• Lack of people. Trying to move an aircraft when not enough people are available to provide safe visibility of all four corners of the aircraft can result in incidents.
• Repositioning an aircraft and impacting against another aircraft or piece of equipment.
• Failing to set the brakes on equipment like APUs or toolboxes, which blow or are pushed into an aircraft.
• Ground equipment impacting the underside of a fuselage or wing because driver was looking straight forward and did not (or could not) see aircraft surfaces above.
• Tow bar failure. A tow bar was in poor condition or improperly fastened, resulting in loss of control of an aircraft.
• Failing to use protective equipment like edge protection, bumpers and covers.