CESSNA 172

Full Narrative

On July 30, 2008, at 0951 Hawaii standard time, a Cessna 172, N5329L, was lifted and spun around while taxing by the jet wash of parked MD-11, at Honolulu International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii. Flight School Hawaii, Inc., operated the airplane under the provisions of title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The certified flight instructor (CFI) and student were not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan had been filed.

The pilot reported in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, that she and her student were taxing southwest on taxiway Charlie when ground control told them to switch to the tower frequency and monitor. As they approached the intersection of Charlie taxiway and Delta taxiway, the airplane started to tip over, and through the left window they could feel the warm air of jet wash coming from a parked MD-11 FedEx airplane. The jet wash lifted the airplane up and dropped it down, the propeller struck the taxiway, and then the airplane spun around to the right pivoting on the right wing tip. The CFI shut the engine down and both her and the student egressed the airplane.

FedEx personnel told a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector that the cargo was live animals (horses) and that the airplane interior needed to be cooled. The airplane's auxiliary power unit (APU) was not operational, and the ground power unit was malfunctioning and could not provide cooling for the airplane. The number 2 engine (tail engine) was started in order to provide power to run the air conditioning packs so the cabin could be cooled.

The FAA Inspector determined that there was no requirement for the FedEx airplane to notify ground control when starting an engine. FedEx does notify ground control when requesting a push back or performing maintenance engine run ups when in the parking or gate areas.