Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Other / Unknown
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors; Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related
Ground crew had done a FOD sweep and got into position to guide us in and we had cleared the wingtip areas. We had already crossed the zipper line and we were being marshaled in when 5 to 10 feet from the normal stopping point there was a shudder from the aircraft. I immediately stopped and tried to assess what had happened. I asked the First Officer if everything was okay on his side. The First Officer looked out his side. At the same time; the lead marshaller had realized that we had our right wingtip come into contact with a tail baggage cart that was placed between a blue baggage cart and a concrete barrier. We contacted Maintenance and Operations and shut down the engines and performed the shut down checklist. We coordinated with OPS to deplane the aircraft. Maintenance then moved the aircraft. We secured the aircraft and then we're met by OPS Management to be escorted to screening. Maintenance did an initial inspection and found no damage. No further incident. Three wing walkers may have prevented this. Glare from the sun was quite considerable and most likely contributed to the Marshaller not seeing the hazard. Also; the tail baggage cart was parked in an area that made it difficult; if not impossible; to see. Management did say that the caution lines have been repainted recently as well as a high turnover rate in ground staffing. All of these factors could have contributed to this.
We had a Marshaller and one Wing Walker on the Captain's side. We visually cleared the area and proceeded to follow the Marshaller's directions. After crossing the zipper road and within 10 feet of the stop spot we felt a shudder in the aircraft. The Captain instantly hit the brakes to access the situation. After a quick scan inside I looked out my window to see if it was an external problem. When I looked it was obvious that our aircraft wingtip had come into contact with a tail loading baggage cart. We contacted OPS and Maintenance right away. Maintenance instructed us to shut down the engines and we then coordinated with OPS and the ground crew to de-plane the passengers onto the ramp and then up the stairs to the jet bridge. Maintenance then pushed the aircraft back to dislodge the baggage cart then pulled it back forward to its parking spot. On first inspection Maintenance did not think that any damage had been done by the incident. We were then met by our OPS Management and escorted to the testing facilities. I believe that if we had two wing walkers this may not have happened. Also the way that the two baggage carts were parked right next to each other it was impossible to see the tail cart from our position outside of the zipper road. The sun was extremely bright on the first officer side of the aircraft; the Marshaller would most likely have been partially blinded.
CRJ-200 flight crew reports the right wing tip contacting a baggage cart while being marshalled into the gate.