Repooc17

fumje

SabotAAge!!

BlueZebra

You mean its not somehow bad management, cost cutting or poor maintenance by UA? Who parked that airplane in the way of that vehicle? Kirby?

fumje

I would argue that Kirby counts as sabotAAge!!

jmoorfoot

Should buff out.

JAaronT

Looks like the tow truck was giving the plane a tow. I don’t see the problem.

goalie

It should buff right out…

rhwbullhead

I'm not surprised. I live in the area and remember reading about these ground vehicles violating runways:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/4/...nding-jetliner

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/12...ent-jamie-rhee

This incident just looks plain dumb. How do you just crash into the plane like that? Lucky it was just that and not a collision at the runway.
Edit:
how much $ in damage do you estimate?

iluv2fly

Perhaps Kirby will call Earl Scheib?

Hawkeyefan

Oh poop

mtofell

"The vehicle driver did not receive any injuries." I bet he's received his last paycheck.... What was he thinking? Going WAY too fast... almost hit another vehicle first (probably would have been better/cheaper if he did). Only thing I can think that might save him is if his rig malfunctioned and the throttle was stuck or something.

Sheikh Yerbooty

I’ve long since stopped being amazed at human ingenuity, particularly in the field of creating new and interesting ways of getting into trouble.

There’s such a thing called a circle of safety around an aircraft, and there are procedures in place which dictate that you slow down and test your brakes before entering. Not this guy though.

Hold the drama for a second; baggage tractors does not come anywhere near runways.

As for the cost, it is impossible to estimate since nobody can - based on a picture - determine the extent of the damage on the inside of the skin. Did stringers get bent? Any damage to the avionics compartment or, indeed, the avionics?

Could be as low as a few tens of thousands of dollars, but could just as easily be six figures. You’ll need to be an engineer and have full access to aircraft and IPP/AMM/CMM in order to make an estimate.

bluedemon211

"Drunk and stupid are no way to go through life son"
Dean Wormer

rhwbullhead

I guess my point is that ORD seems to have problems with ground vehicles driving in a recklessly as those examples the articles I linked demonstrate (Sun Times articles are behind paywall, but you get the idea from the preview section). Those incidents involved getting too close to or crossing active runways and punishments were lax and didn't seem to deter such behavior (at least that was what the article suggested back then).