On May 1st, 2020 an incident recorded at Doha airport resulted in an unmanned Boeing 787 lifting from its chocks, doing a lil Tokyo drift then resulting in a little love tap on a nearby Airbus A350, both aircraft owned and operated by Qatar.
It is highly likely the parking brake and other stopping measures were fully and safely in place. In weather conditions as such, strong winds and a large enough tailplane can be enough to lift and spin an aircraft off its nose gear. Aircraft are designed to fly into wind nose first after all, not side on.
Twitter, Air Plus News
Doha airport has been in the midst of some pretty beefy storms with winds reported as hitting upward of 60kts. Typically under normal circumstances, this may not have been as severe. But with aircraft parked in close proximity, it was either the airport terminal or the next aircraft. The nose of the 787 was blown into the right hand side of the A350, the extent of damage is yet still unknown. However given the current lack in demand for aircraft flying passenger routes, it should hopefully leave enough time for both of these aircraft to be repaired and get back into the sky, depending on the damage of course.
Qatar released this statement on their Twitter below:
Perhaps another blow for an airline in a time when the aviation sector is suffering the most. You can read more and watch a video of the incident below:
I just saw the videos literally 5 minutes ago and that looks very scary. I’m glad they were parked and out of service, at least from my view the A350 is out of service.
It certainly is unfortunate. What with the current situation, most aircraft are parked incredibly close together at airports, and whilst it is summer currently, many countries can experience severe storms this time in the year. I expect we may see another incident similar to this in the near future.
Could have been much much worse, at current only damage to the 787s nose and a350s fuselage have been reported. No wings sheared through thankfully…
@FlyingTarsier the aircraft was rotated initially by the wind, I’d assume that the strong winds may have lifted the front gear off the ground and allowed it to roll on its main gear 🤷
From the video, it looks like the aircraft did turn and face into the wind, but from what I see, the wind is coming from the top right (if the orientation is from the cameras point of view). If the aircraft turned into the wind, that would have meant the aircraft was facing either a headwind or left crosswind. How was it able it move forward? 🤔 Weird
It was a 70 knot wind, and you are correct, it came from the top-right, however keep in mind that the rear of the aircraft was exposed to the wind. The wind velocity was so strong, and because the wind came in at a 45* degree angle, it was able to practically push the tail to a point where the whole aircraft rotated.
I agree with you, however the thing I am puzzled about is that the aircraft was able to move forward after rotating, with a 70kt headwind or crosswind. Any possible explanations?
It’s a conspiracy theory. Boeing hates Airbus of course, so they remote hacked into the 787s cockpit to do some wizard trickery and make it crash. Don’t tell anyone I told you that, I’m currently being hunted down by the FAA for my knowledge.
In all seriousness, I understand your confusion. It’s puzzling me also, could it be that the engines were spinning, the airport has a slight slope? Idk, I’m just the messenger.
I’ve heard of competitors clashing in the past, but this is a bit too literal for my taste. 🤔
Forced comedy aside, we can only be thankful that the damage sustained was minor. Airlines can’t afford to spend a large amount of money on aircraft that will only remain on the ground for the time being. Maintenance cost doesn’t look like it should be too high for the repairs needed, but I’m not a mechanic so don’t take my word for it. 🤷♂️
