check this picture of my truck under that Boeing 777

I've never been on the tarmac at a commercial airport, thou I have at an air force base. The tarmac was closed to planes and if memory serves, there was not even a plane in sight. I had to follow a guard driving a pickup out to the tarmac where there was a guy standing in the middle of nowhere with a fork lift. I thought that was kinda fishy, but I learned along time ago not to meddle in military ways. Only thing I could figure, though I didn't ask, was that maybe they were about to bring in a cargo plane to load the stuff onto after I left. It was big bags of tiny glass beads that I was hauling. I found out later that those beads are used in the paint for aircraft.

 

I understand the concerns of the pilot but as the OP mentioned that there were things blocking his right of way to go around the plane. But if that was all that could be done to get the job done, well maybe it's the airports personal that should get ragged on and not the driver. The driver was just following what he was told. Can't jump on his case about that.

 

I didn't take issue with the driver in any of my posts.....obviously not being used to these types of operations, he had no clue what a mistake, and a serious one, was being made here. if my comments come off as directly addressing the OP (driver in this case) then i extend my apologies to him......my comments weren't (and aren't) directed at the driver who did not have the experience of being in and around these types of operations.....

I thought i was pretty clear at directing my disdain and irritation at that picture to the management of the ground handling company responsible for those operations and the ground crew specifically handling this driver. they #### well knew better. all of them, from the supervising management present at the time this happened, to the idiot who escorted and marshalled him under that wing, should have been terminated. there are many of these operations each day, and the established safe procedures for conducting them are pretty much industry standard from airport to airport and company to company. this company clearly took shortcuts and cut corners, for whatever reason (most likely to meet a tight departure time)....by allowing him to drive under the wing.....if there were in fact other equipment or items blocking the correct forward of wing approach for this type of operation, they should have been moved before allowing the driver to approach the airframe using accepted procedures. when you cut corners like this working around aircraft, sooner or later, people die. either in the air, on the ground, or both.

in another thread i outlined in detail that most of these operations, including the one i ran for 20 years, are not even conducted by the airline whose name is on the side of the plane.....it is contracted out to 3rd party companies at the lowest bidder.....and sometimes, as in this case, you get what you didn't want to pay a fair price for.....and end up with worthless help who takes chances with people's safety....

you cannot cut corners like this for any reason......safety of flight, the aircrew, the unknowing and unsuspecting public on the ground, and the security and integrity of the aircraft have to come first. every time. if they don't sooner or later you hear about it on the 6 o'clock news.

but i bet if he finds himself in the same situation in the future, he will now be informed and refuse to approach an aircraft from this position.

 

Do not sweat the small stuff. It is a cool pic.

 

Cool picture. People getting bent over something that doesn't affect them is humourous.

 

I think I may call the U.S. Marshalls and let them know this happened. My friend has a cousin of a friend that works for them.

 

Ohh be quiet it was a cool pic

 

I guess if the aircraft was damaged somehow during this operation and it fell out of the sky into a nieghborhood in the middle of the night and killed a family you'd think the pic of that would be pretty cool too huh?

as a pilot anything that affects the safety of any aircraft affects me.

 

How is that effecting the safety of the aircraft? You can clearly see there is plenty of room between the truck and the wing.. You're acting like he was driving around the airport ripping wings off and running people over... Get over it..