aviation accident: Boeing 747-4F6B near LOS ANGELES (1999-06-07)
Probable cause: Airport management's failure to ensure that its current operating procedure, which required the arriving airplane to power into the terminal gate, was being used. Also causal was (1) the ground service company's utilization of an outdated arrival procedure that directed the arriving airplane to stop short of the gate, thereby obstructing the taxilane; and (2) the ground service company's utilization of a nonstandard marshalling hand signal which was, accordingly, misinterpreted by the departing airplane's crew. A contributing factor was the departing airplane's first officer's misjudged evaluation of wing tip clearance.