[Responsibility2nd]

It was a wing clipping a wing.

 

I doubt if they even scraped the paint off either wing.

The sad part is - I heard passengers on both planes were stuck and could not return to the gate for several hours while officials from both airlines pointed fingers at each other and waited for the FAA.

[a fool in paradise]

Keep Austin Away

[noiseman]

From the photo, it looks like the United 737 was taxiing behind the American 737 and didn't quite have enough room. If that's the case, then either the ground or ramp controller shouldn't have cleared him to taxi through there until American was clear, or American pushed back too far from the gate (though it doesn't look unusual), or American should have had wing walkers (no, not the barnstorming kind, but that does conjure an amusing mental picture) to watch for something like this.

The United captain wouldn't have been able to see his wingtip from the cockpit, so ordinarily they would rely on taxi lane centerlines to provide sufficient clearance. In this case, though, since the pushback distance could vary, it probably relied more upon a judgment call by the United captain, and he clearly made the wrong choice.

So, probably several factors involved. Regardless, if all they did was ding up the winglets, that's a minor issue (though a major inconvenience while they investigate).

[PLMerite]

Bad touch! Bad touch!!