It might have been quickly forgotten as just another case of ramp rash at one of the world’s busiest airports if it wasn’t for an amateur video capturing the dramatic footage of an Air France Airbus A380 clipping the tail of a Comair regional jet and spinning it almost 90 degrees. The incident on Monday night at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport gained national attention after the grainy video surfaced on YouTube video below. In it, the fast taxiing Air France A380’s left wing hooks the tail of a Bombardier CRJ 700 as the much smaller airplane holds its position on an adjacent taxiway. The force of the collision violently spins the smaller airplane before both aircraft come to a stop and emergency crews are alerted.
None of the 60 passengers and crew aboard the CRJ was injured when the massive Paris-bound A380, with a wingspan of 261 feet, struck the Delta Connection-branded jet’s horizontal stabilizer. The fender bender, however, was the second such incident for an A380 since the double-decker super jumbo jet entered service in 2007. During the A380’s development, aviation officials worried about the airplane’s ability to maneuver at airports that were never intended to handle such large airplanes. While JFK is by no means a small airport, the incident underscores the need for pilot vigilance when taxiing any size airplane on crowded ramps and taxiways.
