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Air France Superjumbo Jet Clips Small Commuter Plane On JFK Airport Runway
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 12, 2011
Modified Apr 12, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 12, 2011
Modified Apr 12, 2011
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Last night, an Airbus A380 (Air France Flight 007), the superjumbo jet, was taxiing on a runway at JFK Airport when it clipped the wing of a Comair Bombardier CRJ-700 (Delta Connection Flight 6293) that had just come in from Boston. According to NYC Aviation, "It appeared the upper wing fence on the A380′s left wing was embedded into the CRJ’s left horizontal stabilizer." Or as a passenger on the commuter plane told the Daily News, "It was pretty damned scary. You could hear things breaking, almost like glass breaking." Another said the plane "almost tipped over." See video of the collision below—the Bombardier nearly rotates 90 degrees!
A third Delta passenger told the News, "The plane was rocking, first to the right, then to the left." The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airliner in the world, holding over 500 passengers; the Bombardier CRJ-700 is a commuter plane that holds about 70 passengers. So for someone on the A380, the collision felt differently—CNN correspondent Jim Bitterman was on the Air France flight, "It felt to me like maybe they hit a rough patch of pavement or something like that. But the pilots immediately stopped the plane, and within I would say a minute or two, the fire trucks started arriving around the plane."
Luckily, there were no injuries on either planes. Both planes were grounded and the FAA will be investigating the damage.
Here's video of the collision:
And here's audio of the air traffic controllers and pilots—the Delta plane said, “All emergency trucks we’ve been hit by Air France. Once again all emergency equipment call 33 evacuate Alpha and Mike.”
Tagged
Air France
airbus a380
bombardier crj-700
commuter plane
delta
jfk airport
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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