Posted on 03/01/2014 10:16:54 AM PST by Gamecock
Two Qantas Airways planes hit each other at Los Angeles airport while being towed. The wing tips of each jumbo jetliner made contact during the incident.
The wing tip of a Qantas Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, brushed the edge of a Boeing 747-400, Boeing's biggest plane, while both planes were being towed out of their hangars. No passengers were on board either plane when the incident occurred about 9 p.m. Qantas, the Sydney-based airline, said both planes were assessed by engineers, Bloomberg News reports.
Qantas is already dealing with setbacks. The airline recently decided to cut 5,000 jobs and reduce its fleet to save costs. It is retiring some of its 747s and is deferring delivery of eight A380s.
The Boeing 747-400 has a wingspan of 211 feet and the A380 has a wingspan on 262 feet. However, collisions such as this aren't too common and rarely lead to injury. The biggest incident of this kind occurred when a British Airways jumbo jet carrying 202 passengers and crew sliced into office buildings at the main airport in Johannesburg after it went down the wrong taxiway. Four people were injured on the ground. 2011, in another incident, an Air France A380 jumbo jet hit a Delta Air Lines commuter jet while taxiing at New York's JFK airport, causing the smaller plane, which was carrying passengers, to spin 90 degrees.
Airbus said it is aware of the current incident and is supporting Qantas by assessing the damage. It is not clear what Boeing is doing.
Did a search and didn’t see this yet.
The headline is a whole lor more frightening than the story.
In before Rainman references.
The headline made me curious as to who hit who first?
Let that one apologize (sincere only) to the other.
Recently watched a documentary on the Tenerife collision, man what a horrible tragedy, and so easily preventable.
“I hate Qantas”
Obvious lack of visibility due to all the rain brought to us by melting glaciers. Or something to do with what the climate change nazis are espousing.
So, not on the runway. This why you use wing walkers.
How many planes has the A380 clipped since it was introduced?
Maybe they were trying to “Mate” eh?
Qantas never crashed, until now.
Towmotors driven by guys or gals?
Would have been very unusual for the wing tip of only one of the aircraft to hit the other.
“planes hit each other at Los Angeles airport while being towed”
by former safety officers from the San Francisco Airport ?
the same guys who ran over those crash victims...last year?
Doesn’t say, but they will be equal tomorrow. Unemployed.
What a misleading headline! It happened in L.A., and this would be a ground crew issue. Who provides the drivers? I wonder if Qantas even had anything to do with it.
Seems the pilot took the plane down the wrong taxiway.
Never worked anywhere that a unit didn't tow their own aircraft.
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