Full Investigation For Boston Collision

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The NTSB is now investigating a taxiway collision that caused millions of dollars in damage and disrupted travel plans for almost 300 Delta customers but didn’t cause any serious injuries. Late Thursday, the winglet on a Delta 767 that was setting up for a trip to Amsterdam from Boston’s Logan Airport clipped the tail of a CRJ900 (operated for Delta by Atlantic Southeast Airlines) that was about to leave for Raleigh. Much of the winglet remained with the RJ’s tail. The FAA initially rated the mishap as an “incident” but later gave it “accident” status, which triggers a full-scale investigation including pulling the recorders and interviewing all involved. “This accident is getting the serious attention it deserves from the agencies that need to investigate it,” said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. Click here for recordings of the radio exchange between the crews and controllers.

The accident occurred about 7:33 p.m. local time. The 767 was following the RJ on Taxiway B. The RJ turned left onto Taxiway M and stopped. The 767 continued on B and the left winglet sliced into the horizontal stabilizer of the RJ and snapped off. The impact twisted the RJ’s tail at about a 45-degree angle. At about the time of the accident, a US Airways crew declared an emergency because of hydraulic problems and asked for the same runway (4R) that the accident aircraft were heading for. Whether the emergency landing request was a factor in the ground accident will be part of the investigation.

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