E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAn Air India jet clipped a JetBlue airliner on Saturday near the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a JetBlue spokesman said. The two planes bumped on the tarmac shortly before 6 a.m.
The Air India jet taxied into the area where a JetBlue Airbus 320 was waiting, making contact, the spokesman said. No passengers were hurt in the accident.
“While crews went to get a new towbar, an air India flight taxied into the area and made contact with their aircraft,” said Alex Headrick, spokesperson for JetBlue.
There were 150 passengers about to head to Florida on board the JetBlue plane, as well as two pilots and three flight attendants. After the accident, the passengers on JetBlue Flight 145 had to switch onto a new plane. The flight was delayed for almost three hours.
The JetBlue Airbus was taken out of service while maintenance evaluates its damage.
Leave a Comment:
Evidently the words taxi and Indian are synonymous. Did the people on board look at the seat in front of them for their hack drivers license?
The Indian pilot's turban probably got in the way...sh*t happens
The Chief Minister of West Bengal recently declared that Calcutta should be painted blue. Maybe Air India was trying to comply on the cheap.
GA Scooter. I heard they gave the pilot of Air India 2 minutes for slashing, with a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
The AirIndia pilot reportedly exclaimed: "OOPSIE!"
Been to an airport in India? Its like visiting a South American village with a runway.
There. See if you can get your plane fixed over the phone.
You touch my red dot on my head. I touch you back.
hmmmm???
They didn't mention how the chickens in the overhead bins made out?
The Tech Support yoke LOL
It'll be interesting to see what jokes Russell Peters comes up with on this incident...
Believe it or not, the pilots of the Air India plane may not have been Indian, particularly the captain. A lot of countries need to find properly qualified and experienced crews from outside their country because they simply don't have them.
- American pilot in China
What jetjoky said.
jetjoky,
India kicked most if not all out a few years back. The locals got upset they were outsourcing.
Yes, there's some truth to that. I worked 6 months out of Mumbai (I'm corporate, not airline) and was replaced by a local. But I still know a couple of guys who fly for Kingfisher out of Delhi.
I truly don't know how many expats are flying for the India airlines anymore I suppose. Here in China it's fairly high in the airlines. A lot of foreign pilots in the Middle East as well.
Holy sht you people are racist. You should thank the internet for allowing you to be a coward and say things online that you would never say to me in person. Stupid punks.
unbel,
I totally agree.
Where were the walkers? Someone should have been on the ramp insuring clearance. I'm always amazed when one of these happens.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
Steve-1888700
Oh and you work at an airport??
Ensure,... Insure is what you pay for on your home, car, etc... And no, they don't have ground crews directing planes anymore. There are some still mandatory positions that have to be manned by crews but for the most part the pilot and co-pilot are in charge of getting the plane to the correct terminal port with direction from traffic controllers if necessary. They don't escort each and every plane to its spot , especially when you have such high volume traffic coming in and out all day and night... They would need hundreds of ground crew @ unreasonable cost. The AirIndia pilot and his crew are responsible here.
That is just gd fascinating, NOT!
What he is speaking of is the jet blue aircraft was being towed back out of the gate (crews were getting new tow bar) which suggest the old one was broke which commonly happens, during that process there should be two men walking the wings insuring clearance for passing vehicles and aircraft, my guess is they left the wings to disconnect the broken tow bar, next time you fly look out the window and you will see the wing walkers. dftt (don't feed the trolls)
Are you talking about ground personnel in charge of marshalling? If it was sitting in a wait zone and not a gate there was no need to have ground crew marshalling, I assume the Air India plane made a wrong turn. Or just a really wide one, in the case that the plane might have been headed in the direction it was supposed to be albeit dinged up the Jetblue plane.
P.S. it wasn't @ a gate when it was hit, it taxied back to a gate afterward.
To clear a couple of things up. Planes DO get marshalled to/from the gate. Ground control gives taxi clearance from the point the plane is clear of the runway and from there to the gate/ramp. They assign or confirm the gate assigned to the aircraft.
If the plane reaches the ramp area and a marshaller and wing walkers are not available to guide the plane into the gate, the crew is required to wait until they arrive. Gate areas are often very tight and the crew cannot see the wingtips from the cockpit. They cannot just "cowboy" it. They need the guidance from the ground crew.
Cameron, when it is particularly busy is when the crew ESPECIALLY needs ground assistance. Perhaps quite a ways from the gate (but on the relevant ramp, not a taxiway). A busy ramp means more chance of a collision without assistance.
While tow bars do occasionally break it far from a common occurance. In fact, it's pretty rare. If it were common do you not think this problem would be addressed?
rocky-2318920 - My Dad's a Pilot. I practically grew up at an Airport and have been on more planes than you've seen.
The Ground Crew assists the Pilot away from the Gate, after that the Pilot receives Instructions from the Tower as to when he can Taxi onto the Tarmac, Runway, etc...
YEAH... CAMEROON !!
Totally unacceptable. JB su**s, I want hotel, a free trip and an apology!
Maybe - if it had been Jet Blue's fault.
And I want to be 29 again. What are you blaming Jet Blue for...your lack of ability at reading comprehension? Try re-reading and see who's to blame or doesn't that matter to you?
29!?!? holy crap, I guess I'd better thank my lucky stars I am only 22.. Not lookin forward to all this 'gettin old' stuff I keep hearin about...
Ordinarily, I would assume that Air India was at fault, at least if their customer service is any indication... I used to live as an American expat in Asia and actually took that airline on a few short-haul int'l flights... service with a snarl and then some, and the bathrooms become unusable after about ten minutes.
However, JetBlue remains the only airline that has kept me imprisoned for 6 hours on a tarmac once, without explanation... and has been at least an hour delayed every single time I've taken 'em... not to mention the reports that a JetBlue pilot completely lost it and had to be physically restrained by the crew in-flight and escorted - by fighter-jet - to an emergency landing in Amarillo, last year.
So.. in other words, before attributing fault for this incident, I'm going to have to give Air India the benefit of the doubt here...hehe.
So, because you had a bad experience once on Jet Blue you're going to assume they are at fault in this incident? Your powers of reasoning need adjustment.
I'm not going to assume fault on either side myself. I don't know enough about the situation.
I see it IS important to learn ENGLISH in America after all.
communication is important now isn't it?
Habba gabba jabba!
Mekka lekka hi. Mekka hiney ho.
What is Mekka, lekka, hi...? Your mom did raise a fool!
only a fool didn't watch pee-wee's playhouse
The crew is required, and has demponstrated, an English level 4 or better fluency level. This means fluent but non-native speaker. And it's indicated on their pilot certificate. They speak the language but the accent may be quite strong.
As my brother's insurance agent recently told him: "Yeah, you're covered. But your rates are definitely going up!"
Thank goodness it didn't happen at 30,000 ft. in the air.
This seems to happening a lot lately.
Texting and driving??
Hello Michael, most Americans do not know how many near misses and hits do happen on the tarmac in American airports. In fact this came up when "investment into decaying or debilitating infrastructures" was being discussed in Washington.
Too many planes, too few spaces, too many poorly managed airports, over worked staff, stressed out attendants and pilots, bad management of information and too many angry passengers who make things difficult for the management too.
And it is JFK? Do you know what catching a flight from JFK is like? It is the most stressful airport you will find.
Dr MS. I think you covered it well. A good recipe for disaster. And JFK is a short runway to top it all.
War!
Jet Blue plane was switched. What of Fly Ali-Baba's plane. "Oh, thank you one thousand times for fixing our wing tip! "AliB 576 Stinky cleared for take off" ten thousand thank yous................. Two hours later, somewhere in the north Atlantic, may-day, may-day............
hahahhahahahhah AAAAHahahahah!!!! That made my day man!
Honest. This seems to be happening like once a month. If I was an airplane I wouldn't want to taxi with those odds.
India's favorite color is white. They did on purpose.
They tried to avoid the stray cow on the ramp it's name was Rahamada Pradeesh! it was his third incarnation. He was previously a grasshopper!
none of the attempted jokes on here are remotely funny
Perhaps Air India should consider outsourcing their pilot jobs to a third world country!
US pilots?
This is quite common. As I wrote earlier a lot of countries simply don't have qualified pilots of their own. They must and do "outsource." Not so much from 3rd world countries (as they are the ones who need them the most).
I know a little about "outsourced" pilots. I'm one of them.
there's a lot of racial jokes going on here...I wonder if this was a plane from Africa would people feel free to joke like this?
Not that Im against poking fun...its just funny to me that some would be completely outraged to even read a racist comment directed towards one group, but have no problem making an equally offensive comment towards another.
Just interesting. Go ahead and begin calling me names...
My thoughts: People would rip on them (Black people.) just as bad. But this is ironic and hilarious because of the stereotypical mideastern taxi driver jokes. What do you expect>? If it was a Chinese airline I bet the jokes would be just as bad with a slightly different effect.
maybe...somehow I don't think black people would get it as bad...who knows. But I agree chinese would get it the worst
I'm so effing sorry, but the Africans cant stop killing each other long enough to even find the airport, much less get on a giant silver bird.
Cameron, you said previously you're 22. Did they stop teaching geography in schools? Judging by your other posts, I have to ask, did they stop teaching EVERYTHING in school? I like how you blame Zionists for getting Obama elected, yet you pretty much make it clear you really don't even know what a Zionist is. Please go back to 5th grade. Or are you just the result of our wonderful liberal education system?
Any cows get hurt?? Effin' Indians and their "turd" world ways!!!
Yeah, if you people don't stop packing them so close, it's going to be more then a clip one day..
Is anyone really shocked by this? I'm not. Happened to me on an international flight from Philly back in 1995. The wing of our plane clipped the tail of another plane. We got clear out to the runway before someone caught it. It felt like we were running over a speed bump on the way out of the hanger.
Poor Abuh just hit a plane, guess its back to saying " Welcome to Quickie Mart"
Looks Like The Sequester Has Claimed It's First Victim / Thats What Happens When You Cut Back On Government Services Like The Air Traffic Control System Which Does Include The "Ground Control System Too"
Just like government cut jobs that matter and keep jobs that produce as much waste as possible. Is there a pattern here? Wish we had George back!!
I guess that jet handles a lot different than a flying carpet.
The Air India plane with people riding on the wings continued on to Mumbai for repairs sometime next week if parts can be found or made.
If a towel head boinks a camel in the dessert, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
failed third grade again, did you? don't forget your helmet when you go out.
the real problem is that those are high capacity planes! and you dont even need a background check to be careless. what is this world coming to? good thing that those are not ARMOUR-PIERCING planes. There should be limited concealed carry planes in the airport. oh well if there were more planes on the runway this would not have happened, and then again it takes a good plane pilot to stop a bad plane pilot
7 planes per 10 plane capacity airports! That will solve all the collisions, runway incursions, near misses, drunken pilots, etc. If only the Constitution was as smart as NYC and Mayor Bloomberg. Oh wait, I can still buy big sodas this Tuesday? Sweeeet... literally.
Turban falling over the pilots eyes, spilled curry in the cockpit and cobras on the plane? Those could be reasons why they hit. Just giving benefit of the doubt.