Two Delta Airlines planes collided while taxiing at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Tuesday morning with one plane’s tail nearly getting ripped off.
A Delta Airbus A350’s wing tip “came into contact” with a Delta CRJ 900 regional jet’s tail while both planes were taxiing to get in position for departure, CNN reported. The Delta CRJ 900 was being operated by Endeavor Airlines. No one was injured in the collision, according to Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black.
Video and photos taken after the collision show the damage to the CRJ 900’s tail.
Two Delta Airlines aircraft were involved in a collision on the taxiway at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.
A Delta airlines Airbus A350-941 aircraft (N503DN) clips vertical stabilizer off the Delta Connection Bombardier CRJ-900LR plane (N302PQ),… pic.twitter.com/lscFm6T7vu
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) September 10, 2024
“While Delta Air Lines Flight 295 was taxiing for departure at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, its wingtip struck the tail of Endeavor Air Flight 5526. The Delta Airbus A350 was headed to Tokyo. The Endeavor Bombardier CRJ900 was headed to Lafayette, Louisiana,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, considered the busiest in the world, also released a statement, saying, “At 10:07AM, two aircraft made contact at the intersection of taxiways E and H on the north airfield. No injuries are reported. Passengers from one aircraft are being bussed to concourse B; the other aircraft taxied on its own power to its gate. There is minimal impact to ops.”
According to Delta, there were 221 passengers on the Airbus and 56 passengers on the CRJ 900.
Retired aviation expert Ira Astrachan told The Daily Wire that the collision appears to be the pilots’ fault and not an issue with the ground crew or air traffic control. He said the CRJ 900 turned onto a taxiway and should have pulled up farther to the “hold short” line “so that its nose is as close to that line as possible.” The CRJ, however, appeared to stop 20 to 30 feet short of the line, meaning its tail was “still sticking part way into the main taxiway, which is where the Airbus was,” according to the aviation expert.
“The co-pilot of the Airbus should have notified the captain, ‘Hey, doesn’t look like we’re going to clear the tail of that CRJ. We need to stop and have the CRJ pull up,'” Astrachan said. “It’s too bad. That stuff shouldn’t happen. It’s two pilots taxiing airplanes; it’s on them.”
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Tuesday’s collision marks the second accident in the past month involving Delta planes at the Atlanta airport. Last month, a Delta employee and a contractor were killed, and a third person was seriously injured when a plane tire exploded in a maintenance area.
The workers had removed the tire from the Delta plane and taken it to the wheel and brake shop when the tire exploded, sending a piece of metal “flying like a missile.” The deadly incident is still being investigated.
This article has been updated to provide additional comments and expert analysis.