Airports, specially large busy ones are usually very active in the sense that there are many airplanes and vehicles moving around in very tight spaces. The chance of an airplane hitting something is very likely in spite of the strict procedures set by both the aerodrome operators and airlines.
An airplane taxis at speeds in the range of 40-60 km/h. An impact at such a speed could severely injure a person who is not fastened to the seat.
The picture above shows a factory new Etihad Airbus A340 which hit a wall while the engines were checked by an Airbus crew before being handed over to the airline. Everyone in the aircraft, including some Etihad employees who were there as passengers suffered injuries with some suffering from serious injuries. This proves that things can happen during ground movement.
That is one thing. Another thing that could happen is a runway incursion. In simple words this means, the aircraft being in a wrong place at a wrong time either by a pilot error or an air traffic controller error. Runway incursions are very common but it very rarely leads to serious accidents. But when it does, it kills many. As a matter of fact, the worst air crash in the history occurred due to a runway incursion, where two B747s collided with each other leading to more than 500 fatalities. [Tenerife airport disaster – Wikipedia]
Author – Anas Maaz
