scope:

Description of Driving Event:

The SOFIA B747 aircraft was being towed into the large maintenance nosedock inside the 7500 hangar building at the Raytheon, Waco facility. As the aircraft approached the nose dock it made contact with the upper support structure of the nosedock. Labor and material costs were identified as less than $10,000. There were no personel injury associated with the incident. The damage is located at FS 480, stringer 2A, exterior top left side of fuselage. The exterior skin deformation is approximately 18" in lenght and 14" in width, with approximately .250 indentation of skin on either side of the frame. No fracturing of external skin is visible.

The cause of this incident was attributed to the following:

1. Insufficient clearance between top of the aircraft and nosedock support structure.

2. Lack of clear communication means between the aircraft/nosedock clearance observer and the tow task supervisor.

3. Supervisor failure to ensure tow team members were pre-briefed on specific duties and resposnsibilities prior to performance of the task.

4. Supervisor failure to properly plan aircraft tow operations prior to task performance.

5. Supervisor failure to ensure tow team personnel possessed required support equipment (Not all task assigned personnel possessed alert whistles/horns).