A Delta Air Lines flight clipped the wing of an empty United Airlines A319 at Hollywood Burbank Airport Tuesday night. But according to the pilot, it was United’s fault.
The Embraer RJ-175 Delta Connection flight, operated by SkyWest, was taxiing into Terminal 2 at BUR when it grazed the wingtips of the United Airlines A320 parked at the next gate.
One passenger onboard reported that the pilot immediately came on the intercom and blamed the United aircraft, saying it was “parked out too far”. The Delta jet stopped immediately.
Passenger Bernadette Kashdan told local news stations, “It felt like we hit a body. I said ‘what did we just hit? We actually hit somebody?'”
Thankfully, the United A319 was empty.
Both Delta and United offered short statements about the scrape. Delta:
After a routine landing in Burbank, California, a wingtip of SkyWest flight 4673, operating as Delta Connection from Salt Lake City to Burbank made contact with another aircraft wingtip while taxiing to the gate. There were no injuries and all 42 passengers deplaned normally through the main cabin door.
United:
A United Airlines aircraft briefly came into contact with another aircraft that was taxiing at Burbank. There were no passengers on board the United aircraft and no reported injuries.
Airport operations continued without interruption after the incident. Although it appeared that damage was limited, the aircraft could not be moved until the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived to investigate.
CONCLUSION
I flew out of Burbank twice last week and see a United A320 and Delta Embraer RJ-175 on the ground often. Admittedly, I have to chuckle at the human defense mechanism. It may well be that the United flight was “parked out too far.” But that’s like hitting a parked car. Come on! And what about the Skywest ground staff (who also work for United Express)? Did they not guide the pilot into the gate? I’m skeptical over blame, but we cannot blame the parked aircraft!
image: Hollywood Burbank Airport
I was driving home after a bachelor party last week and this telephone pole just jumped out in front of my car. don’t who would put a pole just 10 feet off the road. Anyway, it was the poles fault.
You would think Delta would be consistent and blame the ME3. 😉
That is an A319 not an A320, there is only one window exit (vs 2 on the 320)
Thank you!
Looking at that picture the Skywest pilot could be right. There are lines on the tarmac on where the plane should be pulling into their stand. If he was trusting that line and the ground staff taking him on that line then it very well might be that the United airbus was not pulled far enough up. Likely the blame is on the ground staff here. Never been to BUR but looks like a tight area.
It is indeed a tight area. So tight, in fact, that it violates FAA guidelines (but is grandfathered in). A new terminal under construction will address this.
As the Captain its always on me. Now the possible exception when taxiing is when you are being guided by someone else. In this case there should have been wing walkers and a marsheller to guide the aircraft into its parking spot. In that case because you know your in close proximity your responsibility is to follow their directions. They are there to ensure that you have proper clearance because you often can’t see your wingtips anyway. So in this case it’s likely on the ground crew for a.) failing to ensure the area was properly clear and b.) the wing walker on that side especially because his sole job it to ensure the wing doesn’t hit anything.
One additional note. This may have been a Delta flight number but it was not a Delta pilot at the controls. The headline really does merit a correction.
@121Pilot: That’s a fair point, but I often struggle with the regional feeder vs. mainline differentiation on a practical level. I know they are employed by two different companies, but when operating under the Delta name with a Delta branded plane, it seems like Delta is hiding behind the fact that it chooses to contact out these flights.
Certainly there are times the mainline hides behind the express brand and ignores the role they play. In those cases I think it’s fair to simply address this as a “Delta, AA, United” issue. Dr. Dao comes to mind as a perfect example of where mainline was properly blamed for what happened on an express flight.
I would argue though that in a case like this (or that regional FA who was drunk in her jumpseat recently) where you have a particular employee responsible for something then it would be appropriate to use either the “connection” label or the name of the airline they actually work for.
Wow you all sound really ignorant. It is clear you don’t know what you are talking about. Airport ops don’t work for United express nor can the pilots see the wing tips. Jesus educate yor tiny minds before you go spewing off false information.