Copa Airlines and UPS planes collide at Miami airport, two lightly hurt

The collision

On Saturday evening, 14 November, a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 and a UPS Boeing 767 made contact on a taxiway at Miami International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration said the wingtip of the Copa jet struck the nose of the UPS plane around 21:00 local time, although one report puts the time at 21:15. The Copa aircraft had landed from Panama City and was taxiing toward its gate, while the UPS plane was taxiing for departure to Bogotá, Colombia. Greg Chin, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, said the planes met at the junction of two taxiways. Two people were lightly hurt and were looked after on the spot by firefighters and rescue crews. Flights were rerouted to other taxiways, so airport operations continued, Chin said.

Controllers, crews and passengers

The FAA said controllers had instructed the UPS crew to yield to the Copa flight, and the agency is now investigating the collision. Recordings of radio exchanges with the control tower, which have been reported in the press, have the Copa pilot saying the plane had been hit and then noticing that part of its left wingtip appeared to be gone. The UPS pilot is heard acknowledging that the aircraft had gone too far forward and caught the other plane's wing. A passenger on the Copa flight told CNN the aircraft lurched sideways, that some travelers began to panic, and that the crew ordered everyone to remain in their seats. About ten minutes later the captain said there was no immediate danger, and a tug was summoned to move the plane. All 166 passengers and six crew members on the Copa jet left the aircraft, which was then returned to the terminal.

Passengers166

Crew members6

Passengers

166 people

Crew members

6 people

Data from the article text

Carriers and the wider disruption

UPS said it is committed to working with authorities to establish what happened. Copa Airlines said it regretted the inconvenience the incident may have caused passengers and that it would cooperate with investigators. Photos of the UPS plane show its nose crushed, with a large hole in the outer panels. The collision happened while US airports were still working to restore normal operations after a suspension of flights.

The disruption began on Friday, 13 November, when a rare nationwide ground stop halted flights across the country. Federal officials blamed an upgrade to air traffic control telecommunications equipment for communications failures that led to the halt. Thousands of flights were canceled on Saturday as airlines moved aircraft and crews back into position. The collision also came just over two months after an Amazon cargo jet ran off a runway at the same airport, hitting two vehicles and killing five people. A federal report found that an air traffic controller had not warned pilots about strong winds when clearing them to land.