Two United Airlines planes collide on the airfield
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*CHICAGO - Two United Airlines planes collided on the airfield at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday afternoon.*
Around 4:20 p.m., Flight 645 was taxiing from Gate C30 when the aircraft’s left wing clipped the left wing of Flight 2746, the Chicago-Sun Times reported.
Federal Aviation Administration rep Tony Molinaro confirmed that both United planes sustained damage to their wings in the accident. According to CBS Chicago, the Portland-bound Flight 645 had passengers on board and the incident ultimately delayed their trip by two hours. Flight 2746, bound for Cleveland, was eventually canceled. The FAA is investigating, the Sun-Times reported.
“I’d call that a minor accident,” one witness said of the scene. “I noticed a lot of people over by the windows looking out, wondering what was going on. A lot of airport employees, people with their cameras up,” witness Alexandra Carley told CBS.
“Our plane that was supposed to come into O’Hare had to circle around for a while after the accident and by that point, the weather got bad,” United passenger Melissa Wester said.
“This many planes in this area, this many times a week. Something is bound to happen at some point. I’d call that a minor accident,” United passenger Mark Ritchie, who witnessed the accident from a flight nearby, told the outlet.
“Prior to its departure on Wednesday afternoon for Portland, Oregon, United flight 645’s wingtip came into contact with the wingtip of another aircraft parked at a nearby gate. There were no customers on board the parked aircraft at the time of the incident and no reported injuries on either aircraft,” a spokesperson for United Airlines stated.
“We assisted our customers and operated the flight to Portland with a different aircraft. The flight departed at 6:32 p.m. yesterday.” - Agencies
