United Airlines planes clip wings on Logan Airport tarmac
BOSTON – A United Airlines plane being towed on the tarmac clipped wings with another aircraft at Logan Airport on Monday.
It happened just before 9 a.m. No one was hurt.
Massport said a jet that was set to depart for Newark made contact with another United plane as it was being pushed back from the gate.
"We were backing off, taxiing to try to take off, and felt this thud and jerked back a little bit. We look over, and the wing had clipped another wing on another flight," said Nick Leone who was a passenger on the Newark flight. "It felt like we hit something."
The other plane was waiting to head to Denver.
"While pushing back from its gate earlier today at Boston Logan, the wing of one United aircraft made contact with the wing of another United plane parked at the neighboring gate. Customers on both aircraft deplaned normally and we've made arrangements to get them to their destinations on different aircraft," a United spokesperson told WBZ-TV in a statement.
The FAA, which will be investigating the incident, said it was flight 515 that struck the tail of Flight 267. Both planes are Boeing 737s.
Patrick Smith, a pilot and owner of the aviation information website AskAPilot.com, said the flight crew does not have direct control of the push back process.
"In most commercial planes believe it or not, you can't even see the wing tip from the cockpit," explained Patrick Smith. "I can't overstate how minor an incident this is. We wouldn't be having this conversation at all if not for other more serious closer calls."
Exactly a week ago, a JetBlue flight and a Learjet had a "close call" at Logan, according to the FAA. No one was hurt, but the incident is still under investigation.
