Air France Airbus A380 impounded after JFK airport shunt

Civil Aviation.

12 April 2011

US investigators have impounded an Air France jet which collided with a smaller plane at New York's John F Kennedy airport.

The Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world's largest jetliner, with a wingspan of almost 80 metres, hit the tail of a Comair regional jet, which span a quarter-turn on the taxiway. The incident was caught on amateur video.

A CNN correspondent on the Air France flight to Paris reported that he felt a "slight rumble akin to hitting a patch of rough pavement" as the superjumbo, with 520 people on board, was moving on the ground at about 8.15pm local time on Tuesday.

The correspondent said about a foot of the superjumbo's left wing appeared to be damaged.

Air France confirmed the incident and said both aircraft had been "immobilised" pending an investigation. A spokeswoman declined to estimate the time and cost of repairs to the wing.

Air France Airbus A380

Air France, which flies five times a day to New York including one flight using the Airbus double-decker, will operate its daily A380 flight on Tuesday as normal, she said.

"This collision caused only material damage. The two aircraft have been immobilised and the passengers were given accommodation or placed on [other] flights," she added.

Bombardier CRJ-700 Comair

Amateur video footage posted on Flightglobal.com showed the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by Comair rocking sharply to one side as the A380 wing flipped it into an almost 90-degree turn to the left.

There were no reports of injuries.

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Reuters / Guardian.co.uk / Wikipedia.

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