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.
“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.”
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