Moment United plane collides with a Delta aircraft on the tarmac at Boston's Logan Airport
Since 2023 began, there have been at least eight instances in which planes collided or nearly collided at American airports.
January 13 — a Delta flight nearly collides nose-first into the side of an American Airlines that had crossed into its runway at New York's John F Kennedy Airport
The Boeing 737 he was piloting was traveling at 115mph down a runway at the New York's airport at around 8.45pm when an air traffic controller noticed that the American Airlines flight to the UK crossed from an adjacent runway right in front of the departing plane, ABC 7 reports.
Air Traffic Control had told the American Airlines flight to cross 'runway 31L at Kilo' but instead crossed runway 4 Left at Juliet, crossing directly in front of the departing Delta flight.
The Delta pilot was forced to abruptly brake, traveling another 661 feet before he came to a complete stop with just 1,000 feet to spare before the plane would have T-boned the American Airlines Boeing 777, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a preliminary statement.
It was then forced to return to the gate, and did not takeoff again until the next morning, while the American Airlines flight arrived in the UK on time.
January 18 — A JetBlue flight 'bumps' into empty parked plane at JFK
According to a passenger on board the JetBlue flight during the incident, the plane was being pushed from the gate by a pushback truck and preparing to taxi before takeoff.
During the pushback, the AirBus A320 hit another parked JetBlue AirBus A320.
Following the incident, the plane returned to the gate and passengers were forced to disembark. There were no reported injuries. Both aircraft were put out of service, the airline said.
February 3 — Two United Airlines aircraft collide at New Jersey airport
Two United Airlines planes clipped wings on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International amid a spate of high-profile near misses at U.S. airports.
The Boeing 757 bound for Orlando, Florida, was struck by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner before the pilot announced to passengers: 'Obviously, our wing has been clipped.'
The tip of an Orlando-bound aircraft's wing was torn off by the collision at Newark Liberty International Airport on February 3
February 4 — FedEx plane narrowly misses crashing into Southwest Airlines jet at Austin airport
A FedEx cargo airplane attempting to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was seconds from disaster with the flight crew suddenly forced to pull up and abort their landing after a Southwest Airlines plane was also cleared to takeoff from the same runway.
The two planes appeared to come within 75 vertical feet of one another.
The Boeing 767 cargo airplane was several miles from the airport when it was cleared to land, according to the FAA but just before it was about to touch down an air traffic controller also gave the go-ahead for the Southwest Boeing 737 to take off on the exact same stretch of tarmac.
'Shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway,' the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
'The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out.'
The FedEx Boeing 767, in orange, had been cleared to land while a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, in yellow, had also been cleared to depart on the same runway
At one stage, just 75 feet appeared to separate the two aircraft according to FlightRadar24
February 27 — JetBlue pilot forced to take 'evasive action' after an aircraft crossed the runway when it was preparing to land in Boston
A JetBlue pilot had to take 'evasive action' while landing at Boston's Logan International Airport when another aircraft crossed an intersecting runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The close call occurred at 7pm when the pilot of a Learjet 60 took off without clearance as a JetBlue flight was preparing to land on an intersecting runway, according to the FAA's preliminary review.
The FAA is investigating just how close the two aircraft came, but flight data tracking service Flightradar24 said Tuesday that a preliminary analysis put the aircraft approximately 530 feet (160 meters) apart.
An air traffic controller instructed the pilot of the Learjet to line up and wait on one runway while the JetBlue flight landed on another, the FAA said in a statement.
'The Learjet pilot read back the instructions clearly but began a takeoff roll instead,' the FAA said. 'The pilot of the JetBlue aircraft took evasive action and initiated a climb-out as the Learjet crossed the intersection.'
March 6 — Wings of two United Airlines planes clip on the runway at Boston Logan Airport
Two United Airlines planes were involved in a slow-speed collision at Boston Logan International Airport.
It happened as one airliner was being pushed backwards out of its bay and its right wing fouled on the horizontal stabilizer at the rear of an adjacent plane.
The incident occurred just before 9am and required United Airlines to disembark all passengers so the two flights could be rescheduled using different aircraft.
'While pushing back from its gate earlier today at Boston Logan, the wing of one United aircraft made contact with the wing of another United plane parked at the neighboring gate,' United Airlines said in a statement.
An airliner was being pushed backwards out of its bay when its right wing collided with the horizontal stabilizer at the rear of an adjacent plane. Pictured are the two aircraft in contact
March 18 — Southwest flight narrowly misses crashing into helicopter on Hollywood Burbank Airport runway
A plane almost collided with a helicopter at a Southern California airport, just days after the Federal Aviation Administration held a summit on rising safety concerns.
FAA officials said a Southwest flight was approaching a runway at the Hollywood Burbank Airport around 9.50am when an air traffic controller noticed a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter on the same runway.
According to an FAA statement, the helicopter had been practicing touch-and-go landings. After noticing the issue, the controller told the Boeing 737 to wrap around.
No one was injured and the matter is under investigation by the FAA at this time.
The Boeing 737 was Southwest flight N551WN from Phoenix, which had to turn around and attempt another landing after the near-crash ended the first landing attempt.
June 16 — United plane collides with a Delta aircraft on the tarmac at Boston's Logan Airport
Passengers on board a Delta flight caught on camera the moment a United Airlines plane collided with their aircraft on the tarmac at Boston's Logan Airport - forcing all passengers to deplane and rebook their tickets.
The two vehicles collided Friday afternoon as the parked Delta plane was waiting to take off for Detroit.
Video posted online showed the United aircraft slowly backing up into the Delta plane, with a spokesperson for the airline confirming to WCVB that its winglet grazed the tail end of the other aircraft.
'Customers on the United aircraft deplaned normally at the gate, and we will rebook them onto other flights,' the United spokesperson said, noting that there were 128 passengers on board the flight headed to Newark, New Jersey.
Passengers on board the Delta flight were also rebooked on another flight that arrived an hour later, and the airline apologized for the inconvenience by ordering the customers pizzas, one passenger wrote online.
Source: Daily Mail
