A DC8 captain taxied his aircraft into the ramp parking area without a marshaller and the number fou...

Narrative:

After flying a one-time contract flight; and arriving at one of our normal stations at an abnormal time; our regular ground crews were not prepared for the extremely early nature of our arrival (nearly one hour earlier than scheduled.) I taxied the aircraft onto the ramp; and saw that there were no support personnel anywhere to be seen. Our parking spot appeared to be clear; and I elected to continue and park the plane unassisted. The folly of this decision was not fully realized until after we left the airplane and discovered that the #4 engine nose cowl had come into contact with a 'K' loader; causing a 6 inch dent in the leading edge of that cowling. The incident could have been avoided if #1; I had exercised a little patience and waited for the ground support crew to get into position; and/or #2; the ground service equipment had been stored in dedicated safe areas. My judgement was impaired as a result of pride in my taxi skills and situational awareness; as well as my eagerness to get the trip over with.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DC8 Captain taxied his aircraft into the ramp parking area without a Marshaller and the number four engine cowling contacted a loader parked in an area which should have been clear. The cowl was dented by the contact.

Narrative: After flying a one-time contract flight; and arriving at one of our normal stations at an abnormal time; our regular ground crews were not prepared for the extremely early nature of our arrival (nearly one hour earlier than scheduled.) I taxied the aircraft onto the ramp; and saw that there were no support personnel anywhere to be seen. Our parking spot appeared to be clear; and I elected to continue and park the plane unassisted. The folly of this decision was not fully realized until after we left the airplane and discovered that the #4 engine nose cowl had come into contact with a 'K' loader; causing a 6 inch dent in the leading edge of that cowling. The incident could have been avoided if #1; I had exercised a little patience and waited for the ground support crew to get into position; and/or #2; the ground service equipment had been stored in dedicated safe areas. My judgement was impaired as a result of pride in my taxi skills and situational awareness; as well as my eagerness to get the trip over with.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	866256
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	DC-8F
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 180 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 6000
Person 2
Function	Flight Engineer / Second Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle

A DC8 captain taxied his aircraft into the ramp parking area without a marshaller and the number four engine cowling contacted a loader parked in an area which should have been clear. The cowl was dented by the contact.