The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the collision of two United Airlines planes on the runway at Boston’s Logan International Airport that occurred on March 6, the agency has said.
According to the FDA, the two planes struck one another at the airport, but no injuries were reported.
“Both aircraft were Boeing 737s that were scheduled for departure,” the FAA added. “The FAA will investigate.”
The two aircraft were taken out of service, United said, adding that flights were rescheduled for later in the day.
“While pushing back from its gate yesterday at Boston Logan, the wing of one United aircraft made contact with another United plane parked at the neighboring gate,” United said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times. “Customers on both aircraft deplaned normally and we’ve made arrangements to get them to their destinations on different aircraft.”
The latest incident at Logan International Airport came just over a week after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that a separate “incursion” occurred at the same airport on Feb. 27 when a Learjet 60 “began a takeoff roll as a JetBlue Embraer 190 was preparing to land on an intersecting runway.”
That incident occurred just before 7 p.m. Eastern time.
NTSB Investigating Near-Misses
According to a preliminary review by the FAA, an air traffic controller had asked the pilot of the Learjet 60 to line up and wait on Runway 9 while JetBlue Flight 206 was about to land on an intersecting runway. However, the pilot of the Learjet flight took off despite not being given clearance.No damage or injuries were reported in that incident either. NTSB is probing that close call too.
The agency is also probing a string of other incidents that have happened in recent months, including near-misses in Austin, Honolulu, New York City, and Burbank, California.
In January, a Delta Air Lines flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport was forced to abort a planned takeoff after an American Airline flight crossed the same runway despite not being given clearance to do so. The two planes came within 1,400 feet of colliding.
Also in January, a Cessna flight and a United Airlines jet came around 1,170 feet from each other at the Honolulu International Airport, and in February, a FedEx cargo plane was cleared to land just as a Southwest flight was approved to take off from the same runway at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Texas.
Southwest Airlines Flight Aborts Landing
More recently, a Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore, Maryland to Raleigh, North Carolina left passengers “horrified” after the plane hit bad weather, causing the aircraft to shake “like crazy” as it landed.The landing was eventually aborted and the plane diverted to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, instead. However, passengers were reportedly left stranded in a closed airport overnight.
“We made the decision to safely divert Southwest flight 3094 (BWI – RDU) to MYR due to weather conditions at RDU,” the airline said in a statement. “We brought in another crew and aircraft to transport the passengers to their final destination as soon as we were able to safely do so.”
On Sunday, a different Southwest Airlines flight en route to Florida from Cuba was forced to turn back after birds struck the engine, causing it to catch fire and fill the cabin with smoke.
The plane returned to Cuba and landed safely. No injuries were reported.
That, combined with thousands of new pilots that have entered the aviation industry, could be placing additional on the system, said Shahidi.
