Hundreds of passengers got a scare on Halloween night when one airplane struck another aircraft on a taxiway at LaGuardia Airport.
The incident occurred just before 7:20 p.m. on Oct. 31, when United Flight 580 had just arrived from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago with 166 passengers and eight crew members on board. While the plane was turning to its arrival gate, it struck United Flight 434, which was awaiting takeoff bound for George Bush International Airport in Houston with 162 customers and seven crew members on board as it sat on the tarmac.
“On Friday evening, United Flight 580 was turning into its arrival gate when it made contact with the tail of United Flight 434, which was stationary on the taxiway,” a United Airlines spokesperson said. “Both planes returned to the gate and passengers deplaned normally.”
There were no injuries reported on either flight. It was the second time in a month that two planes collided at LaGuardia Airport. On Oct. 1, two regional Delta Airlines Connection flights, both operated by Endeavor Air, had a low-speed collision that injured one flight attendant. Endeavor Air Flight 5155 was taxiing for departure from LaGuardia to Roanoke, Virginia, with 28 passengers and four crew aboard, as Endeavor Air Flight 5047 was taxiing to its arrival gate from Charlotte, North Carolina, with 57 customers, two pilots and two flight attendants on board, when the wing of the departing aircraft made contact with the fuselage of the arriving aircraft.
The incident involving the two CRJ-900 aircraft occurred at the intersection of Taxiways M and A after air traffic controllers instructed Flight 5155 to hold short and yield to the other aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The FAA had no comment on the latest incident at LaGuardia Airport, blaming a lapse in funding due to the month-long government shutdown, saying the federal agency is not responding to “routine” media inquiries.
“As Secretary Duffy has said, there have been increased staffing shortages across the system,” the FAA said in a statement. “When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”
