An Airbus A350-900 belonging to Spanish flag carrier Iberia has been grounded in Guayaquil, Ecuador, after a water cannon salute went horribly wrong on Thursday when the swooping wing tip of the multi-million-dollar jet collided with an airport fire truck.
The incident occurred as the A350 was preparing for departure back to Madrid, forcing the pilots to taxi back to the terminal building, where the flight had to be cancelled so that engineers could assess the damage to the aircraft.
Iberia normally operates one of its older Airbus A330 airplanes to Guayaquil, but the airline is temporarily substituting its much newer and technologically advanced A350-900 on this route.
To celebrate the commencement of services on the A350, the airport authorities in Guayaquil decided it would be nice to honor the first departure of the aircraft type with a water cannon salute whereby airport fire trucks create an arch of water over the aircraft as it passes underneath.
Water canon salutes are a traditional form of celebration in the airline industry and can be used to mark route launches, the arrival of a new aircraft type, and even pilot retirements.
Some airlines have, however, banned their pilots from taking part in water cannon salutes due to the risk of damage being caused to the aircraft. A lesson that Iberia has just learned the hard way.
As the A350-900 was taxiing for departure as flight IB-132 back to Madrid, the aircraft started to taxi underneath the arch of water formed by two fire trucks positioned on either side of the aircraft.
Unfortunately, it appears that the fire truck on the left-hand side of the plane had positioned itself too close. The wing tip of the aircraft collided with the extendable water arm of the fire truck, leaving a deep groove in the wing tip.
Photos and videos of the incident were caught by planespotters at the airfield perimeter, as well as by shocked passengers on board the plane.
In 2018, a water cannon salute involving a Saudia Airlines Airbus A320 went wrong as the plane approached the gate at Dubai International Airport, when the jet of water caused the overwing emergency slide to be deployed by accident.
According to an official report into the incident, when the jet of water hit the side of the aircraft, it did so with such force that it pushed in a panel hiding the overwing exit control panel.
The water then exerted pressure on the control panel, forcing it upwards and activating the overwing slide to deploy.
In this incident, investigators concluded that this wasn’t down to user error, as the water turret that shoots the water out was malfunctioning and not reacting to user inputs.
