On Wednesday, two Delta regional planes collided at low speeds while taxiing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. One of those planes was headed to Roanoke, carrying 28 passengers.
It is the second aviation incident linked to Roanoke in just 8 days. A United flight overshot the runway at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport last Wednesday, and now this is the second scare.
According to Delta, one plane had just landed from Charlotte and was heading to the gate, while the other was preparing to depart for Roanoke. That’s when the wing of the Roanoke-bound plane clipped the other aircraft on the taxiway, damaging the cockpit area, just inches from the pilots.
Air traffic control audio captured the moment. An air traffic controller (ATC) can be heard saying, “We have two CRJ’s on Mike that collided.” Seconds later, the Charlotte pilot can be heard reporting, “Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit. We have damage to our point screen and some of our screens in here.”
Virginia Tech Aerospace Engineering Professor Ella Atkins explained how collisions like this can happen at low speeds.
“The responsibility of assigning a taxiway path to go from the runway to the terminal is the job of the air traffic controller, but it is the job of the flight crews to communicate and conservatively stop before they would hit each other at an intersection like what happened last night, “Atkins said.
The Port Authority of New York, which operates LaGuardia, said a flight attendant suffered a knee injury and was taken to the hospital. All 85 passengers on board the two planes were not hurt.
“The pilots can see what’s in front of them and to the sides but they can’t actually see their wing tips, so they have to have a pretty good mental model of how much space they need on each sides,” Atkins said. “But just like driving a car, sometimes the crews make judgement mistakes and that appears to be what happened last night”
In a statement, Delta apologized to its customers, saying in-part, “Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of [their] customers and people comes before all else.”
After an overnight delay, Roanoke airport told 10 News the Roanoke passengers arrived at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport just before 8am Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into the incident.