B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human-Machine Interface
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors
I was assigned a ferry flight to reposition an aircraft with no one else to be on the aircraft besides myself and the Captain. I arrived at the aircraft approximately 10 minutes prior to the Captain and began my preflight duties. When the Captain arrived we had a discussion regarding the special procedures to be completed during a ferry flight; specifically the inspection of the cabin and galleys for loose items and the arming of the escape slides on the L1 and R1 doors. The Captain took it upon himself to inspect the cabin while I completed the cockpit setup. I noticed that the Captain spent several minutes in the forward and aft galleys checking on all of the galley carts. Prior to departure; an operations manager boarded the aircraft and confirmed with us that the galley carts would remain on board for the flight. After all of the exterior doors were closed; I armed the emergency slides on the L1 and R1 doors. After closing the cockpit door and locking it; we pushed back from the gate and departed. After an uneventful climb; cruise; and descent; we were cleared for a visual approach. The Captain was the flying pilot and I was the pilot monitoring. We configured the aircraft for landing (Flaps 30) and the Captain maintained a speed of 130 KIAS to touchdown. The Captain was hand flying the aircraft with no automation activated. The autobrakes were NOT selected prior to landing. The landing was a 'greaser' with the aircraft touching down smoothly. The speedbrakes deployed automatically and the Captain deployed the thrust reversers. As the Captain began to apply the brakes manually; we heard a loud crashing noise. I briefly looked back to find that the lower panel in the cockpit door had been breached. The area around the panel was cracked and appeared to be bent. Through the open portion of the panel I could see a gallery cart that was partially on its side. I refocused my attention forward and observed that the aircraft was at approximately 100 KIAS and slowing. The Captain remained focused on controlling the aircraft and slowed the aircraft to taxi speed. We exited the runway and taxied to the gate. After parking the aircraft and completing the Shutdown checklist; we found that the cockpit door would not open normally due to the damage. I crawled through the open lower panel of the cockpit door and had to step over a galley cart that was leaning on its side wedged into the entry way. I moved the galley cart out of the way and attempted to open the door from the outside and was unable to. I disarmed the L1 and R1 doors and opened the L1 door. A Mechanic arrived shortly and was able to dislodge the cockpit door so the Captain could exit. I inspected the aircraft and came to the conclusion that the cart had come from the rear galley and had traveled the entire length of the aircraft. All of the forward galley carts were still secured and in place. There was no other damage to the aircraft besides the cockpit door area. Neither myself or the Captain were injured during the incident. After debriefing the incident; the Captain and I were a little confused as to the cause of this incident given the thorough preflight. I marked 'Insufficient Attention to Detail' as a primary cause because I could have backed the Captain up and checked the galley carts as well.
B737 First Officer on a ferry flight reports a loose galley cart on landing crashing through the cockpit door. The Captain had done the galley preflight prior to departure.