Planes Sideswipe at JFK Airport Gate Days after Scary Near-Collision on New York Runway
NEW YORK – Just days after two planes had a near miss on a runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, two planes collided in a gate area.
The incident involved a JetBlue plane that was headed for Puerto Rico and an unoccupied aircraft. As the flight was leaving the gate about 7 a.m. Wednesday, it “came into light contact with a parked unoccupied aircraft during pushback,” JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said in an email.
The plane bound for Puerto Rico, Flight 1603, “returned to the gate, no injuries were reported, and the flight has been assigned to another aircraft,” Dombrowski said in his email to the New York Post. “Safety is JetBlue’s first priority, and both aircraft involved will be taken out of service for inspection and the incident will be investigated.”
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Flight 1603 was preparing to leave for Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it struck the tail of the other parked plane. Both planes were Airbus 320s.
No injuries were reported. Passengers were assigned to another aircraft.
The incident comes on the heels of a scary moment Friday when a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 aborted its takeoff as an American Airlines plane crossed the runway.
″(Expletive)! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943, cancel takeoff clearance!” an air controller said in an audio recording of Air Traffic Control communications when he noticed the other plane, operated by American Airlines, crossing in front, Associated Press reported.
The recording was made by LiveATC, a website that monitors and posts flight communications.
Delta Air Lines’ departing Boeing 737 plane then came to a safe stop on the John F. Kennedy International Airport runway as the other airliner crossed in front around 8:45 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
The Delta plane stopped about 1,000 feet (about 0.3 kilometers) from where the American Airlines plane had crossed from an adjacent taxiway, according to the FAA statement.
The FAA is investigating both incidents.
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
