A Japan Airlines aircraft collided with a stationary Delta Airlines plane on the runway of Seattle-Tacoma Airport on Wednesday morning. The incident, which occurred at 10:17 a.m., resulted in damage to both planes but no injuries were reported. The Japan Airlines plane was taxiing across the tarmac when its wing struck the tail of the parked Delta plane.
Images shared by passengers on social media depicted the wing of the Japan Airlines plane slicing halfway through the tail of the Delta aircraft. One passenger described the incident as “very scary,” adding that the impact was loud and startling. The plane was subsequently inspected for further damage.
Despite the collision, the airport reported that the incident had a “minimal impact” on its operations. The airport is currently working with both airlines to ensure the safe disembarkation of passengers and their transportation to the terminal.
This incident comes amidst a tense period for airports nationwide, following two recent fatal accidents. Just a week prior, a collision between a US Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport resulted in the deaths of 67 people. Two days later, a medical evacuation jet in Philadelphia crashed onto a busy street and exploded, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground.
Adding to the unease, the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions system (NOTAM), which provides crucial information about potential hazards to aircraft and airports, experienced an outage over the weekend. Although the system was restored on Sunday, the outage caused delays for hundreds of flights.