United Airlines plane collides with another aircraft at Chicago airport, passengers safe

Chicago: A United Airlines plane heading for its gate clipped the tail of another United aircraft at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, authorities said.

No one was hurt in Friday’s incident. The 113 passengers on Flight 2652 from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, were able to leave the plane normally after a delay, United officials said in a statement.

The second aircraft had its horizontal stabiliser struck and was not moving when the planes made contact, officials added.

Bill Marcus, a passenger on the flight from Wyoming, said he didn’t even realise anything had happened until the pilot announced a delay to document the incident. Passengers also noticed a number of people gathering around the right wing.

“I was shocked that I didn’t feel something more, although when they separated the planes there was some shuddering,” Marcus told CBS News Chicago. The delay added about 40 extra minutes to reaching the gate, he said.

Earlier this month, two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided at the intersection of taxiways at LaGuardia Airport in New York, injuring a flight attendant.

Runway collisions like these have raised concerns about aviation safety, especially following recent crashes and near misses, including the deadliest plane crash in the United States in decades, when an Army helicopter collided with an airliner preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January.