Two Delta Airlines planes were involved in a “low-speed collision” on Wednesday (Oct. 1) at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.
As reported by the Associated Press, the regional jets crashed into each other on the taxiway on Wednesday evening. The collision resulted in cockpit damage in one of the planes, a partially torn-off wing, and one flight attendant suffered non-life-threatening injuries. One of the planes involved in the incident was preparing to take off on its scheduled flight to Roanoke, Virginia, when it hit an aircraft that had just arrived from Charlotte, North Carolina. The outbound flight was carrying 32 people, while the inbound plane was carrying 61.
Air traffic audio recorded the moment the planes collided, with a pilot telling air traffic control that they had been “clipped” on the aircraft’s nose by another plane. One of the passengers said that the inbound plane “stopped, jerked, and jumped to the right” after it landed. “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,’” said the passenger, William Lusk.
“Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else,” said Delta Airlines in a statement, noting that other airport operations at LaGuardia were unaffected by the incident. “We apologize to our customers for the experience.” Both planes were CRJ-900s, which can seat up to 90 passengers, and are operated by the regional airline Endeavor Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.
Endeavor Air faced another incident earlier this year when a flight from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport crashed during its scheduled landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. While no one was killed in the flight, which took place on February 17, at least 21 of the 80 people on board were injured. The aircraft, also a CRJ-900, experienced a hard landing and overturned. Delta ultimately offered people on board the flight $30,000 in compensation.