MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Other / Unknown
Ground Excursion Taxiway; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; General Maintenance Action
Procedure; Weather; Human Factors; Airport
I arrived at the terminal to pick up an out of service aircraft; to take back to the hangar. As I was proceeding from the ramp making a left turn onto the assigned taxiway; half way into my turn; I could feel the nose of the aircraft slide on the ice to the right. I applied the brakes and turned the steering tiller full left; I instructed my radio operator to deploy the thrust reversers but slid into the grass. I tried to steer the aircraft back onto the taxiway. Realizing that we were stuck I shut down the engine did the check list and contacted the FAA Tower. Lack of knowledge of how much ice was on taxiway before attempting to enter it. I feel that this ramp exit should have been closed due to fact that it was a solid sheet of ice. There were many more suitable exits from the ramp that didn't have ice.
Another mechanic and I were assigned to taxi an aircraft from the gate to the hangar for maintenance. The other mechanic occupied the left seat and would taxi the aircraft. I occupied the right seat and would operate the aircraft radios during the operation. Before departure we noticed that the fuel in the center fuel tank was insufficient for our taxi operation. We're required to have 5;000 lbs of fuel in the center tank for MD-80 aircraft taxi operations. We had only 150 lbs in the center tank and had to transfer fuel from the wings into the center tank. After transferring 5;000 lbs into the center we had approximately 2;300 lbs in each wing. Ramp control cleared us out on the East side of the Terminal. I called Ground Control and asked for clearance to taxi from the ramp to The West Company Hangar. The Tower [Ground] responded by telling us to make a left on the first taxiway; and contact Ground Control on a new frequency. I read back the instructions and my partner let me know that he understood their direction. As I heard the engine's start to spool up I looked out of the First Officer's window a second time to make sure no aircraft were approaching. As we started to taxi out onto the taxiway I felt the aircraft begin to turn left and everything felt normal. 2-3 seconds later I noticed that my partner seemed to be having a little trouble with the aircraft. It was unclear to me at the time exactly what was going on so I asked him if everything was okay? He said NO! As he struggled to get the aircraft to turn left and said that 'The Airplane Won't Turn; It's Sliding' I immediately looked up and out of the center windshield to see how close we were getting to the edge of the taxiway. I told him to hit the reversers a couple of times thinking that would help slow us down. The reversers were finally deployed but it was too late and we slid off into the grass. Frank began to try to get the aircraft out by using the engine's thrust to get us back up on the taxiway. It did not work. Frank shut the engines down and I called the Tower and asked for assistance. The Tower responded by saying that they would dispatch some help to us. I believe that the incident occurred because the taxiway had a sheet of ice causing the aircraft to slide during the left turn. I suggest that the airport taxiways be inspected during icing conditions to make sure that it is safe to taxi and provide all airlines with this information before taxi operations are allowed.
MD80 maintenance crew reports a taxiway excursion due to ice while attempting to taxi from the gate area to a maintenance hangar.