B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Police / Security Involved
Human Factors; Airport; Aircraft; Procedure
After arrival; while boarding bus to hotel the Captain was approached by a local Constable. The Constable advised the Captain that the ground crew loading/unloading a narrow body aircraft on a hard stand [behind our aircraft and roughly 400 feet north] thought that jet blast from taxi in could have caused a cargo container to be displaced from the loader. Normal procedures were used during taxi in. EGLL ground did change our gate because ours was occupied.
I was Captain of a B777 flight to LHR. While taxiing in to our originally assigned gate; we were reassigned to park at [the adjacent gate]. I started my 90 degree turn onto the gate lead-in line at approximately 7 knots and idle power. This was enough energy to continue to the stop point with the engines still at idle until we parked.After deplaning; while awaiting the crew bus to the hotel; I was approached by a Constable. He advised that a ground crew unloading baggage bins from a [narrow body aircraft] at hard stand 355 alleged that the jet wash from our aircraft had blown a cargo container off the raised cargo loader onto the ground; striking the [narrow body aircraft] in an unknown location. The constable took the particulars of our flight along with my name and employee number. As we left for the hotel; our crew bus passed very close to the aircraft in question; and various members of my crew took photos. Some of these photos show the location relationship between our aircraft and other aircraft; while others show the cargo bin on the ground next to the [narrow body aircraft].After examining the LHR parking diagrams; along with aircrew and Google Earth photos of the parking gate and hard stand positions; it is difficult for me to imagine jet wash from engines at idle while parking at the gate impacting hard stand 355. If indeed the allegations are correct; then it would seem there are only two possible solutions to keep such an incident from happening again. First; prohibit wide body aircraft from parking at the gates when hard stand 355 is occupied; or secondly; prohibit use of hard stand 355 when wide body aircraft will be using the gates.
Flight crew is informed after parking at their gate that jet blast from their aircraft may have caused a cargo container to fall from a loader and damage the aircraft being loaded.