Air France Airbus Collides With Delta Jet On Ground At JFK Airport
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – An Air France Airbus A380 collided with a Delta commuter plane while taxiing to the runway for takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday night.
LISTEN: Raw Controller Audio of the Incident (via LiveATC.net)
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The Federal Aviation Administration's Jim Peters said at approximately 8:15 p.m. the left wing of Paris-bound Air France Flight 7 struck the tail of Comair Flight 6293, which had just landed from Boston with 62 passengers and 4 crew on board. No injuries were reported. Passengers were removed from the Comair flight and both planes were towed.
London residents Claire Bandy and Poppy Lawton were arriving in New York City for the week, but told CBS 2's Derricke Dennis they got a welcome they never expected.
"We were just waiting. We were kind of all having a chat saying it was a bit annoying and then suddenly there was this big bang from one side of the plane," Bandy said.
"I think it was the tail of the big Air France jet that hit the back of us or something."
1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reports: Air France passengers didn't feel the impact
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"The engine of the Air France jet that hit the tail of us and pushed round, and pushed our front end around the other way," Lawton said.
They said their Delta plane actually swerved sideways on impact, but quickly came to a stop.
"Just crushing noises, like whoa! It sounded like smashing glass or something's breaking," Lawton said.
Port Authority Police detectives were on the scene interviewing both pilots and both planes were to be inspected for damage. Passengers from the Delta flight were seen lining up for luggage that would likely take hours to get.
The double-deck Airbus A380 is the world's largest commercial passenger jet and can carry 525 passengers in a three-class configuration or more than 850 in a single-class configuration. Comair operates regional flights for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc.
Subsequent Air France flights leaving JFK were canceled Monday night.
Please stay with CBSNewYork.com for more on this developing story.
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