Lufthansa Airbus A330 343 accident
Airbus A330 343 and Colgan Air Bombardier Inc DHC-8-402 · Accident while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA12CA122
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Aircraft 1 · Airbus A330 343
- Aircraft type
- Airbus A330
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- D-AIKE
- Operator
- Lufthansa
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Dulles, VATo Frankfurt Main Airport (FRA), Frankfurt
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Unknown or undetermined
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Bombardier Inc DHC-8-402
- Aircraft type
- Bombardier DHC-8
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N341NG
- Operator
- Colgan Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Pittsburgh, PATo Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Dulles, VA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Miscellaneous/other
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
On August 10, 2012, at about 3:15 PM EDT, Lufthansa flight 417, an Airbus A330, D-AIKE, collided with Colgan Air flight 3912, d.b.a. United Express, a Bombardier DHC-8-400, N341NG, while the Airbus was taxiing for takeoff at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Dulles, Virginia. At the time of the accident, the DHC-8 was stopped and waiting for ramp workers to assist with parking at gate A1C. There were no injuries to any of the passengers or crewmembers on either airplane. The DHC-8 received substantial damage to its rudder and vertical stabilizer and the Airbus sustained minor damage to its right wingtip. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
The DHC-8 landed on runway 19C at IAD and proceeded on taxiway (TWY) A after exiting the runway. After arriving in the ramp area, ramp control cleared the flight to proceed to gate of A1C via TWY A5, which required crossing TWY B. The captain stopped the aircraft short of the gate on the lead in line and set the parking brake because there were no ramp workers present to marshal the airplane in.
The A330 was pushed back from gate B49 and cleared to taxi towards TWY J via TWY B and to "hold short of A5." Prior to reaching A5, the flight was cleared to proceed to TWY J. Shortly after this, the captain saw the DHC-8 stopped near the gate and reduced taxi speed and asked the first officer if there was sufficient space on the right side for the A330 to pass. The first officer replied that the DHC-8 appeared to be at its proper parking space and that there was enough room. As the A330 taxied past, its winglet struck the DCH-8 rudder and vertical stabilizer. The A330 crew stated they never received any notification from ground control or ramp control that the DCH-8 was obstructing the taxiway or not in its parking position.
Probable cause
the A330 flight crew's failure to maintain a safe clearance to the DHC-8 that was stopped in front of the gate.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA12CA122
- Event ID
- 20120811X13221
- Case number
- DCA12CA122
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 35d794bdbeaed0c2db4f757d92442319226b5ac657a8384164c5bca7ce3434c3; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:21:36.496Z.