Boeing aircraft, Cargo plane collide on taxiway at Miami airport, two passengers injured
The collision occurred around 9:15 pm when the wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 cargo plane while both aircraft were moving along the airport taxiways.
PTC News Desk: Two aircraft collided on the ground at Miami International Airport on Saturday, a day after a nationwide ground stop caused widespread disruption and left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the United States.
The collision occurred around 9:15 pm when the wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 cargo plane while both aircraft were moving along the airport taxiways.
The Copa Airlines aircraft was carrying 166 passengers and six crew members from Panama City. It was taxiing towards its gate when the collision took place. The UPS aircraft was preparing for departure to Bogota, Colombia.
Copa Airlines confirmed that two people were injured in the incident.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air traffic controllers had instructed the UPS crew to give way to the Copa Airlines flight. The agency has launched an investigation into the collision.
Audio recordings of air traffic control captured one of the pilots reporting the incident, saying, "Somebody hit us."
Photographs from the scene showed damage to the nose of one of the aircraft.
"The aircraft is at the terminal and all passengers have disembarked. Two of them received attention from airport paramedics for what, preliminarily, appear to be minor injuries," the Panama-based airline said in a statement.
The other passengers and the six crew members are in "good condition", it said.
"We regret the inconvenience and concern this situation may have caused. We reiterate that the safety of passengers and crews is our priority. We will cooperate with the authorities in this investigation," it added.
Miami International Airport said flights were being redirected to other taxiways and that airport operations had not been affected.
In a statement, UPS said its crew was safe and that it would cooperate with authorities to determine the cause of the incident. The company added that the safety of its employees and the public remained its top priority.