On the afternoon of Friday 7 November 2014, photos showing a Lion Air 737-900ER having its right hand side horizontal stabilizer hit by a portable airstair began circulating on the internet.
The aircraft has been identified as PK-LFP which according to some has only recently been returned to service after prolonged maintenance. The mishap occurred at Balikpapan Airport.
While most commentators on the internet have screamed “the guy moving the stairs is going to get a pay cut” or “he’s going to get fired”, my eyes began to look for clues and other signs.
Immediately my question is, “what were the stairs doing that far back?” There is no need to move the stairs quickly behind the aircraft from the left side to the right side unless you’re moving it to go to another aircraft as the right hand side doors are not used for passengers. Usually the stairs gets moved along the airside road between the parking stand and the terminal, and not between the parking stand and the taxiway. So, why that far back?
Secondly, the impact appears to indicate that the stairs were moving at quite some speed when it hit the stabilizer, which indicates that the stairs may have been pulled by a vehicle at the time. Was the driver of the vehicle trained adequately and made aware that the stairs can hit the stabilizer? Why was he moving that close to the stabilizer?
At the end of the day, before anyone passes judgement, the chain of event needs to be established and the chain of error analysed and narrowed down.
Screaming “paycut” or “fire him” or other similar things won’t help. Safety isn’t built on threats!