Video footage posted to social media shows the moment two planes clipped each other on the runway of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Delta Air Lines Flight 295, an Airbus A350, struck the tail of Delta Endeavor Air Flight 5526 while taxiing for departure at the Georgia airport, clipping it almost entirely off. A passenger described the incident as “terrifying,” adding that there were loud bangs and metal scraping sounds. He concluded his tweet saying, however, that everyone involved was “fine” and there was no fire or smoke at the scene.
Delta Airlines issued a statement noting that there were 221 passengers on the DL295 and 56 on the DL5526. The statement also confirmed that no operational adjustments were expected. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident, but similar instances have previously been attributed to air traffic control errors.
The US Department of Transportation said last year that there were 23 near collisions on runways in America last year. Among these was an incident at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when a FedEx cargo jet approached the runway to land while a Southwest Airlines was getting ready to take off. The Federal Aviation Administration later said that the air traffic controller cleared the Southwest flight for take-off “shortly before the FedEx aircraft was due to land.” The National Transportation Safety Board partly blamed substandard air traffic training for the incident.
A media investigation last September found that the majority of near misses at America’s airports are caused by human error. A subsequent report stated that safety standards in air traffic are “frequently breached,” and there was a worrying lack of runway warning systems at some US airports. These systems are designed to provide direct alerts to pilots if there is potential for a runway collision. Runway Status Lights, for instance, are lights embedded in runway pavements that turn red when another aircraft is nearby. The Federal Aviation Administration says Runway Status Lights are installed at just 20 US airports, including John F Kennedy in New York and Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC.
