B757 captain reported that a catering truck drove directly in front of aircraft during taxi which ca...

Attributes
ACN	1621460
Time
Date	201902
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ORD.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 149 Flight Crew Type 1460
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical

Narrative:

Taxiing into alleyway during heavy rain/thunderstorms. [We] had just made turn to parallel terminal; when a fast-moving catering truck appeared less than 20 feet in front of the plane; traveling west on 'road' running between [two gates]. Slammed on brakes; and stopped feet from hitting him. I only saw him when my taxi light lit the truck; and then he was mostly hidden behind the windshield wiper. Several passengers made it a point to come up after we parked to tell me they saw him; and thank us for not hitting him. My impression; judging from his speed; was that he was trying to beat us; not that he didn't see a lit up 757 going no more than 10 knots. Fortunately the flight attendants were still seated; or there would have been injuries.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 Captain reported that a catering truck drove directly in front of aircraft during taxi which caused the flight crew to stop the aircraft abruptly.

Narrative: Taxiing into alleyway during heavy rain/thunderstorms. [We] had just made turn to parallel terminal; when a fast-moving catering truck appeared less than 20 feet in front of the plane; traveling west on 'road' running between [two gates]. Slammed on brakes; and stopped feet from hitting him. I only saw him when my taxi light lit the truck; and then he was mostly hidden behind the windshield wiper. Several passengers made it a point to come up after we parked to tell me they saw him; and thank us for not hitting him. My impression; judging from his speed; was that he was trying to beat us; not that he didn't see a lit up 757 going no more than 10 knots. Fortunately the flight attendants were still seated; or there would have been injuries.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

B757 captain reported that a catering truck drove directly in front of aircraft during taxi which caused the flight crew to stop the aircraft abruptly.