Aeromexico Incident at ORD Highlights Importance of Ground Damage Mitigation

According to a report by ABC7 Chicago, a ground service provider collided with an Aeromexico aircraft while driving a baggage cart.

The report indicated that 100 passengers were forced to deplane after the piece of ground support equipment (GSE) damaged the aircraft's engine.

Brandon Popovich, manager of safety and training at the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), explained in an interview with AviationPros that ground damage is a term used across the aviation industry to describe any damage to aircraft that occurred while the aircraft was on the ground.

“This term covers a vast range of areas on the airfield as well as several different scenarios. Some of the most common areas on the airfield where ground damage takes place is on the ramp or apron. Aircraft can taxi into another aircraft, into GSE, or into a structure. Other areas of ground damage can occur while the aircraft is parked and being serviced with GSE to include fuel trucks, tugs, golf carts, GPUs, lavatory carts, potable water carts, O2 racks, people, etc. The most common amongst aircraft service providers is aircraft damage occurring during the tow operation. Whether on the ramp apron or during hangar movements, towing is the most common area for damage to occur,” he said. 

While ground damage does occur throughout the industry, ground handling, airline and airport stakeholders are working to mitigate these events.

Mario Pierobon wrote in a 2020 article for Ground Support Worldwide, that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced the ground damage database (GDDB) more than a decade ago with the aim of collecting aircraft ground damage reports, determining trends and enabling analysis of ground damage incidents. 

Since the GDDB was established, it has been moved into IATA’s Incident Data eXchange (IDX), which uses global and regional trend data analytics to set safety and security performance targets.

IDX is IATA’ safety and security incident data management program, IATA officials explained. IDX is a globally aggregated and de-identified database of incident reports – including flight operations, cabin, ground operations safety and security occurrences. It offers a secure environment,  providing participants with a seamless experience to view aggregated data against standards and benchmarked with other counterparts.

“Ground damage events represent a significant safety issue and cost challenge for the industry,” IATA officials explained, noting the association has brought together both ground and flight safety information in a more comprehensive and user-friendly format. “Having a comprehensive database of such instances enables the identification of risk factors involved in ground damage events and benchmarking of best practices to avoid them.”

For additional details about the IATA IDX, visit https://www.iata.org/en/services/statistics/gadm/idx/.