A UPS cargo plane and a Copa Airlines passenger jet collided at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, in a ground incident that came a day after a nationwide ground stop disrupted flights across the United States.
The two aircraft made contact at about 9.15 pm local time at the intersection of two taxiways, airport officials said. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the left wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 while both planes were taxiing.
The UPS plane, operating as Flight 358, was preparing to depart for Bogota in Colombia. The Copa jet, Flight 427, had just landed after arriving from Panama City in Panama. Air traffic control audio captured the moment the Copa pilot reported that another aircraft had hit them, and the UPS crew later acknowledged they had gone too far before the other plane’s wing clipped them.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue treated two people at the scene for minor injuries, and neither needed to be taken to hospital, officials said. The airport said there were no reported injuries and that flights were directed to alternative taxiways, with no impact on airport operations. Photographs of the UPS aircraft showed a crumpled nose with a hole in its panels.
Copa Airlines said all 166 passengers and six crew members on board its flight eventually got off the plane, and the jet was towed back to the terminal. UPS said its crew was safe and that the company is cooperating fully with the authorities. The FAA has opened an investigation into the collision.
The incident came as US air travel was recovering from a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, caused by data overload problems in ageing air traffic control systems. US airlines cancelled thousands of flights over the weekend, and the FAA has said the national flight schedule is expected to return to normal by the end of Sunday.
