Two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided on the taxiway at LaGuardia airport in New York, injuring a flight attendant, damaging a cockpit and tearing off part of a wing in what the airline described as a “low-speed collision”.
The wing of an aircraft carrying 32 people getting ready to take off on Wednesday night to Roanoke, Virginia, hit the fuselage of an aircraft arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina, with 61 people aboard, according to a statement from Delta.
A flight attendant who sustained injuries and was taken to a hospital, but the injuries was not life threatening.
“Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit we have damage to our windscreen and … some of our screens in here,” a pilot said, according to air traffic control audio.
“Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else,” the statement from Delta said. “We apologize to our customers for the experience.”
LaGuardia airport is one of 35 major airports where the FAA has installed advanced surface radar systems that help track aircraft and vehicles on the ground and alert controllers to potential conflicts. It wasn’t clear what role the system played in this collision.