Narrative:

I was first officer on the flight. We were taxiing left-lane southbound on ramp 4 in atl and approaching the center roadway. Left side was clear; and a bag cart was approaching from the right initially at high speed but he was just entering the center roadway on the opposite side of the ramp from where we were (lots of distance between us and him). I noted this and kept watching the driver of the cart. He appeared to slow down some; but as we got closer to the road it was obvious he was not going to stop. I told the captain to stop (it was difficult for him to see the cart from his angle) and simultaneously applied the brakes. We stopped the aircraft as quickly as we could; coming to a stop in the middle of the roadway. The driver of the bag cart evidently just looked up and saw us. He turned quickly and avoided hitting our wingtip; coming to a stop within 5 ft of the wing. The bag cart did not make contact with the airplane; and the driver of the cart was ok. The captain called the flight attendant to make sure everybody in the cabin was ok; and she said that they were. We then proceeded with the rest of the flight and everything was normal. The threats were the usual ones we see when operating on the ramp; lots of traffic on crossing paths (both aircraft and ground equipment). I can't speak for the ramper; but it appeared he may have been reading his display on the cart for bag information. This would obviously be a threat as well. The errors would be us not stopping earlier; and the bag cart driver not staying 'heads up' while on the roadway. The undesired state was that the aircraft and bag cart ended up much closer than anybody is comfortable with. I have made it a point to stay 'heads up' during taxi on the ramps; especially after seeing the video of the catering cart hitting our plane. This helped reinforce that. The company may want to re-address this issue with ground equipment drivers. After our event; we heard 2 more situations on the radio that were almost exactly like this in atlanta on that same evening.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A First Officer at ATL reported seeing baggage tug whose distracted driver did not detect the aircraft as he approached a crossing road forcing the Captain to make an emergency stop to avoid contact.

Narrative: I was First Officer on the flight. We were taxiing left-lane southbound on Ramp 4 in ATL and approaching the center roadway. Left side was clear; and a bag cart was approaching from the right initially at high speed but he was just entering the center roadway on the opposite side of the ramp from where we were (lots of distance between us and him). I noted this and kept watching the driver of the cart. He appeared to slow down some; but as we got closer to the road it was obvious he was not going to stop. I told the Captain to stop (it was difficult for him to see the cart from his angle) and simultaneously applied the brakes. We stopped the aircraft as quickly as we could; coming to a stop in the middle of the roadway. The driver of the bag cart evidently just looked up and saw us. He turned quickly and avoided hitting our wingtip; coming to a stop within 5 FT of the wing. The bag cart did not make contact with the airplane; and the driver of the cart was OK. The Captain called the Flight Attendant to make sure everybody in the cabin was OK; and she said that they were. We then proceeded with the rest of the flight and everything was normal. The threats were the usual ones we see when operating on the ramp; lots of traffic on crossing paths (both aircraft and ground equipment). I can't speak for the Ramper; but it appeared he may have been reading his display on the cart for bag information. This would obviously be a threat as well. The errors would be us not stopping earlier; and the bag cart Driver not staying 'heads up' while on the roadway. The undesired state was that the aircraft and bag cart ended up much closer than anybody is comfortable with. I have made it a point to stay 'heads up' during taxi on the ramps; especially after seeing the video of the catering cart hitting our plane. This helped reinforce that. The Company may want to re-address this issue with ground equipment drivers. After our event; we heard 2 more situations on the radio that were almost exactly like this in Atlanta on that same evening.

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.