The wingtip of a Delta Air Lines jet struck the tail of a Delta commuter aircraft while taxiing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Tuesday morning, causing severe damage to the smaller plane.
There were passengers on board both planes, but no injuries were reported as of around 2 p.m., according to Hartsfield-Jackson and Delta.
A Delta Airbus A350 was taxiing for departure at the Atlanta airport when its wingtip struck the tail of a Delta Connection regional jet, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The CRJ-900 was on an adjacent taxiway when it was hit by the A350. The collision damaged the wing of the A350 and the tail of the regional jet, according to Delta.
The FAA said it will investigate the incident, which occurred around 10:07 a.m.
The A350 was Delta Flight 295, a flight to Tokyo. The Delta Connection aircraft was a Bombardier CRJ-900 operated by Endeavor Air as Flight 5526 to Lafayette, Louisiana.
According to air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net, one of the pilots said: “Uh, we just hit something on the taxiway. Could you tell us what it was?”
The response: “The whole tail of that CRJ is off.”
Passengers on one aircraft were taken by bus to Concourse B, while the other aircraft taxied to a gate. The airport said there is “minimal impact” to its operations, and Delta said its operations continued normally at Hartsfield-Jackson.
There were 221 passengers on the A350 and 56 passengers on the CRJ-900. Delta said the passengers would be placed on other flights.
“We apologize to our customers for the experience,” Delta said in a written statement.
Credit: Source: WSB
Credit: Source: WSB
The National Transportation Safety Board said its investigators were traveling to the scene Tuesday and it expects to have a preliminary report in 30 days.
“Delta is cooperating with the NTSB and other authorities on this incident,” the airline said.
Meteorologist Jason Adams at WFTS in Tampa posted on X that while taxiing out on the flight to Louisiana to cover Tropical Storm Francine, another plane appeared to have “clipped the back of our plane.”
“Very jarring, metal scraping sounds then loud bags,” he wrote. “We’re fine. No fire or smoke.”
Credit: Jason Adams
Credit: Jason Adams
Delta said its TechOps maintenance teams would move both aircraft to maintenance hangars.
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