We see aircraft “bumping” into one another on the ground every so often — hey, I guess it’s better that it happens on the ground than in the air. Here’s the latest example of that, though this incident seems particularly avoidable…
In this post:
Delta planes collide on SLC taxiway
This incident happened on the evening of Saturday, July 27, 2024. Long story short, three Delta jets were waiting for takeoff short of runway 16L:
- The first aircraft waiting for takeoff was a Delta Airbus A220-100, operating flight DL1304 to Orange County (SNA)
- The second aircraft waiting for takeoff was a Delta Airbus A320, operating flight DL2677 to Dallas (DFW)
- The third aircraft waiting for takeoff was a Delta Boeing 737-900ER, operating flight DL2046 to Bozeman (BZN)
As these planes were waiting for takeoff, the wind conditions weren’t ideal. Planes ordinarily take off into the wind, but in this case the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, so they had a tailwind. So the pilot of the first Delta jet advised air traffic control they’d need a minute to crunch the numbers on takeoff performance:
Delta 1304 pilot: “Right now, for Delta 1304, we got four knots too much on the tailwind. We’re just running the numbers, so stand by.”
At this point the pilot of the third Delta jet advises that they’d be ready to depart immediately, and could take off from an intersection:
Delta 2046 pilot: “Tower, Delta 2046, we have a number for a hotel 12 departure if able.”
Air traffic controller: “Delta 2046, that’s fine… and you have access now?”
Delta 2046 pilot: “We can get in there, Delta 2046.”
Famous last words, because as it turns out, there wasn’t enough room for the jet to “get in there.” As the Delta 737 made a right turn onto a taxiway to get onto the runway, the winglet hit the tail of the Delta Airbus A320 in front of it.
As you’d expect, there was quite a bit of drama with figuring out how the planes could proceed, since at first it was difficult to asses the damage. Two of the Delta flights ended up returning to the gate and had to be canceled. That’s not ideal, since I can only imagine that some passengers on that flight had probably already been stranded for days, given Delta’s meltdown.
Meanwhile the first Delta flight suffered an even longer delay for a reason unrelated to this incident. That’s because the runway direction had to be changed, as the wind speed picked up.
VASAviation has an excellent recreation of this incident, which you can watch below.
This is an extremely avoidable accident
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, ground collisions do happen with some frequency. However, in a vast majority of situations, they happen while planes are pushing back, or taxiing in very narrow apron areas. It often happens while aircraft are being pushed back, and sometimes the “wing walkers” just aren’t paying enough attention.
However, it’s rare to see a situation like this, where the plane is under the full control of the pilots, and they’re on an open taxiway. The air traffic controller specifically asked if they’d have enough room to clear onto the taxiway, the pilot confirmed they would, and they went.
Pilots are always supposed to err on the side of caution. If there was any doubt in the captain’s mind that there wouldn’t be ample space to clear the other plane, he obviously shouldn’t have made this request (or accepted the clearance).
Did the captain have poor depth perception, a case of get-there-itis, or what? Delta captains are the best compensated in the industry, so they shouldn’t be maneuvering as if they’re a Dodge Charger driver in Miami…
I’m curious, does anyone know what typically happens to pilots in these kinds of situations, when they do something like this that’s obviously pilot error? Do they just get some more simulator time, or are there bigger repercussions?
Bottom line
Two Delta planes collided on a taxiway at Salt Lake City Airport. More specifically, the pilots of one Delta jet thought they could maneuver to the side of another Delta jet in order to get a faster takeoff clearance, though that didn’t exactly work out, as both aircraft were damaged, and both flights were canceled.
What do you make of this Delta jet collision?
