Two Delta planes collided while crossing paths at LaGuardia Airport in what passengers described as a rattling experience.The jets “absolutely smashed” into one another while coming to a stop on a New York runway Wednesday night, just moments after one accelerated to depart the airport while another began to taxi upon arrival.
One plane’s nose was staved in while a wing of the other plane was almost entirely ripped off, according to witnesses.
The harrowing incident occurred as a jet carrying 32 passengers departing for Roanoke, Virginia, crossed paths with the fuselage of an aircraft arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina, with 61 people aboard around 10 p.m., Delta said in a statement to the NY Post.
Audio transmissions between the cockpit and air traffic control reveal the astonishment of one pilot as he described the impact. “Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit. We have damage to our windscreen and… some of our screens in here,” he said.
Photos of the crash show one aircraft’s windshield shattered while the nose of the other is badly mangled.
CBS News producer Joey Annunziato, who was a passenger on the plane arriving from Charlotte, said in a social media video about the crash, “We got absolutely smashed by another Delta flight. I don’t know if we hit them or they hit us, but it was super jarring.”
“Everyone shot forward in their seats, and it was kind of a little chaotic as soon as it happened. We were shocked at what happened.”
Annunziato confirmed that his plane was proceeding at a “decent clip” along the runway when the impact occurred.
William Lusk, another passenger on the flight, told ABC that the plane “stopped, jerked, and jumped to the right” just after it landed.
”Everyone went dead silent. And as everyone went dead silent, the pilot calmly came on and said, ‘Hey, we’ve been in a crash, everyone remain calm,’” he told the outlet.
Miraculously, no passengers were injured from the impact. One stewardess suffered a non-life-threatening injury and was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, the NY Post reported.
It’s unclear what caused the miscommunication between both jets and controllers, which occurred less than 24 hours after the federal government shut down for the first time in seven years.
More than 13,000 air traffic controllers are designated as emergency personnel by the Federal Aviation Administration, requiring them to report to work. However, they will not be paid until the shutdown ends, the agency confirmed
“Delta teams at our New York-LaGuardia hub are working to ensure our customers are taken care of after two Delta Connection aircraft operated by Endeavor Air were involved in a low-speed collision during taxi,” the airline said in a statement.
“Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as the safety of our customers and people comes before all else. We apologize to our customers for the experience.”
