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Reporter was informed by ground equipment personnel the pin/spring design on company's regional carrier's baggage tractor hitches is too small for the main line aircraft baggage cart hitch rings. Weak springs allow 5;000 pound carts to detach from tractor.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 969340 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201109 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | No Aircraft |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Technician |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
Due to concerns brought to my attention from ground equipment staff; I have notified management regarding discovered; dangerous conditions noted on regional carrier's baggage tractor hitches. The pin/spring design is too small for the air carrier's [main line] aircraft baggage cart hitch ring. This allows for a good deal of travel during starts and stops resulting in significant wear on the pin. Also it has been noted that the springs are weak from lengthy in-service time and allow the pin to pop-up when the tractor hits a bump; detaching carts from the tractor. This could lead to a run-away 5;000 pound cart hitting airplanes or even worse; people!
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Reporter was informed by Ground Equipment personnel the pin/spring design on company's Regional Carrier's baggage tractor hitches is too small for the main line aircraft baggage cart hitch rings. Weak springs allow 5;000 LB carts to detach from tractor.
Narrative: Due to concerns brought to my attention from Ground Equipment staff; I have notified Management regarding discovered; dangerous conditions noted on Regional Carrier's baggage tractor hitches. The pin/spring design is too small for the Air Carrier's [main line] aircraft baggage cart hitch ring. This allows for a good deal of travel during starts and stops resulting in significant wear on the pin. Also it has been noted that the springs are weak from lengthy in-service time and allow the pin to pop-up when the tractor hits a bump; detaching carts from the tractor. This could lead to a run-away 5;000 LB cart hitting airplanes or even worse; people!
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.