Final Report: Poor communication caused collision

Mitsubishi MU-2B-60, Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 2004–The cause of the collision was “the failure of the ground controller to coordinate the runway crossing of a maintenance tug with the local controller,” the Safety Board concluded. The ground controller cleared the Epps Air Service MU-2 to taxi to Runway 35 and a minute later cleared a maintenance tug towing an MD-80 to taxi from the same ramp to the far side of Runway 35. As the MU-2 started to take off from Runway 35 and had reached 80 knots, he saw the tug crossing the centerline. He aborted the takeoff and swerved to the left but hit the tug. Weather conditions were night VMC.