Qatar Airways may be dealing with ongoing Airbus A350 paint issues, but one Boeing 777 has a much bigger problem after slicing into a metal post at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Four pilots have been fired as a result.

The incident occurred at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) on August 5th. A Boeing 777-FDZ (registration A7-BFH), which is part of Qatar Airways’ cargo fleet landed from Atlanta (ATL) at 8:45pm and was scheduled to continue on to Maastricht (MST) a few hours later.

But the 777 received damaged to its right wind leading edge after colliding with a metal lamppost on runway 10C. It isn’t clear the extent of the damage, but it looks pretty bad:

2015 built Qatar Airways Boeing 777-FDZ Aircraft ( A7-BFH) Received damages to it’s Right wing Leading edge (slat and wing structure) after it hit a lamp post, while taxiing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD) on 5th August.

📸@MZulqarnainBut1 / Matthew pic.twitter.com/PSKCo6XZZw

— FL360aero (@fl360aero) August 7, 2022

(Pilots – please feel free to give your take on the damages below)

A Qatar Airways spokesperson confirmed the incident:

“Qatar Airways can confirm that a cargo aircraft, QR8141 operating from Atlanta to Chicago, came into contact with a light post while taxiing at Chicago O’Hare and sustained some damage to the wing. The incident is currently under investigation and we can confirm that no crew members were injured.”

The four pilots in the cockpit have allegedly been terminated. As of tonight, August 7th, the aircraft remains in Chicago O’Hare.

A cargo-configured Qatar Airways 777 has sustained damages after an accident occurred at Chicago ORD. It appears the problem was pilot error and it is not clear how long it will take to make the aircraft airworthy again.

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

That looks fairly serious. The real question is what damage if any was done to the wing spar. If the spar is ok this should be a straightforward fix. If not it’s still repairable but it’s a whole lot more complicated.

Question: Why dismiss all four pilots and not just the two actually at the controls?

Because it’s Qatar. Someone should check if they are still alive.

I was wondering the same. It makes me wonder if they were drinking in the cockpit or something else stupid.

As far as I know the same happened on the EK flight out of DXB in December that came seconds away from crashing on takeoff. While traceable to the errors of the Captain, I heard that they fired all four pilots as they were all sitting in the cockpit at the time. While a bit extreme, at least they are holding people accountable unlike AA that has reinstated the pilot of the A321 at JFK who nearly crashed a perfectly fine aircraft.

What – how did American not fire those pilots? Wow, that is crazy, I already was staying away from American because of their horrible product and weak route network, but this is even more reason to avoid AA.

121Pilot did a post on it here at LALF like two weeks ago. Was an interesting take and is pretty astounding given the Captain’s response on being asked why he did what he did, “I don’t know. I don’t remember doing it.” And yes, he’s back flying again.

Holding people accountable is always a good thing, as long as it is the people who deserve to be held accountable.

Agreed, why I feel that firing all four (As also the case with the EK flight) is pretty extreme. Unless there were specific wrongdoings by all four that led up to it. In the case of the QR flight we don’t know yet. In the case of the EK flight the blame was clearly on the Captain.

His Excellency now has a wound that needs some salt rubbed into it.

The aircraft didn’t collide with a lamppost on on runway 10c as this article claims because there are no lamppost near runway 10c. This collision took place on taxiway BB2, as the aircraft was taxing to Qatar’s cargo facility which is located on the Northeast side of the airport. Landing on runway 10c to the west would have required the pilots depending on ATC’s instructions to traverse around the central deicing pad where things can get a bit dicey for pilots who may not be familiar with that area of the airport. Taxiway BB2 has a standing restriction advising pilots if their wingspan is over 118 ft they can not use BB2.

This isn’t the first time a lamppost has been struck on taxiway BB2 a few years ago a a brand new United Airlines 787-9 which hadn’t even enter revenue service was being taxied to the hangar when maintenance mistakenly turned onto BB2 and also hit a light pole. I don’t think all 4 pilots should have been fired because that area of the airport can be confusing to pilots not familiar with it as there are taxiways BB, BB1 and BB2 all within close proximity to each other. Also taxiway BB1 and BB2 intersect with taxiway BB. In my opinion ORD should just permanently close taxiway BB2.

If true (I have no idea) that is really interesting. As well it must be a assumed that the pilots were directed to taxi there by the tower who would have better known.

finally someone who actually knows what they are talking about. thx.

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