No injuries after two United Airlines jets clip each other on the ground in Boston
BOSTON — Two flights scheduled to depart from Boston Logan International Airport on Monday morning made contact with each other near the gate area, federal aviation and airport officials said.
United Airlines Flight 515 was being pushed back from the gate by a tow tug when its right wing struck the tail of United Airlines Flight 267 parked at a neighboring gate around 8:30 a.m., according to preliminary information released by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Both jets were Boeing 737s. No injuries were reported.
Flight 515 was heading to Newark, and Flight 267 was scheduled to fly to Denver, airport officials said.
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Both jets were taken out of service, United said in an emailed statement.
"Customers on both aircraft deplaned normally and we've made arrangements to get them to their destinations on different aircraft," United said.
Both flights were rescheduled for later in the day.The investigation is ongoing.
The incident came one week after a JetBlue flight from Nashville landing at Logan had to take evasive action when a Learjet charter jet crossed an intersecting runway, and as aviation incidents and outdated technology are getting increased scrutiny from regulators, industry experts and casual observers alike.
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Following Southwest Airlines' system meltdown over the winter holidays and the Federal Aviation Administration's NOTAM outage that caused a nationwide pause on flight departures on Jan. 11, many people are voicing concern about the state of air traffic management in the U.S.
During recent hearings on Capitol Hill, senators grilled industry experts and the Biden administration's nominee to lead the FAA on what upgrades are needed to make flying in the U.S. safer and more reliable.
Contributing: Zach Wichter, USA TODAY