On Wednesday night, two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided on a taxiway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The collision resulted in at least one non-fatal injury. The airline described the event as a “low-speed collision.” This was occurring as one plane was preparing to take off and the other was landing.
That first jet, with just 32 passengers on board, was scheduled to be the first flight to Roanoke, Virginia. In addition, the second aircraft, then carrying 61 people, had recently flown in from Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time of the crash, a wing of the Roanoke-bound plane had hit the fuselage of the jet that was coming in from Charlotte.
William Lusk, a passenger on the Roanoke-bound flight, recounted the experience:
“Everyone went dead silent. And as everyone went dead silent, the pilot calmly came on and said, ‘Hey, we’ve been in a crash, everyone remain calm.’” – William Lusk, via ABC.
Besides the passenger injury, initial reports showed there was significant damage to the aircraft that was struck. A pilot reported via air traffic control audio that “their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit we have damage to our windscreen and … some of our screens in here.”
Delta Air Lines believes in doing everything possible to create a safe environment. Their commitment is to work closely and collaboratively with all appropriate authorities to investigate what happened. The airlines said the safety of their customers and employees is their highest priority.
“Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else,” – Delta.
In spite of the collision, Delta Air Lines issued reassurances that operations at LaGuardia Airport would not be severely impacted. The non-fatal incident exemplifies the immense pressure that traffic-congested airports often find themselves in while trying to juggle extremely busy air traffic.