Accident At Logan Airport Puts Airline Safety Back In The Spotlight

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Just when the buzz has died down about the Southwest Airlines aircraft that had to make an emergency landing because of a hole in the fuselage, there has been another incident to bring airline safety back in the spotlight. The attention given to these types of incidents may make some people weary about air travel but in the long run it helps to bring more attention to the issue. Because of this increased attention airlines are taking all possible measures to prevent future incidents. In this particular case at Logan Airport a Boeing 767 being operated by Delta Airlines made contact with a much smaller Atlantic Southeast Airlines Canadair Regional Jet 900.

The smaller aircraft was heading down a taxiway when it turned left onto another taxiway and then abruptly stopped. The larger Boeing 767 was following behind the smaller jet and when the smaller jet turned onto another taxiway the 767 continued down the taxiway, unaware that the smaller jet had stopped. When the smaller jet turned onto the other taxiway and stopped there was not adequate room for the 767 to safely pass by and this is when the collision occurred. The left wing of the 767 collided with the tail of the smaller jet, which resulted in substantial damage to both aircraft. Luckily there was only one minor injury between the two aircraft. The potential for serious injury and damage was definitely present, but luckily did not occur. Considering that both aircraft had full fuel loads and both were carrying passengers, a much worse situation was thankfully averted. This incident does however highlight the need for a serious review of current airline safety and how ground approaches are handled.

The chain of events leading up to the crash include the action of the pilots, the instructions from ground and air traffic controllers, as well as an emergency landing which was occurring at the same time. All of these events combined together led to the crash and it is going to be difficult to determine where the error(s) were made. It is unclear whether or not the smaller jet stopped due to instructions from ground control or for some other reason. The third aircraft which had requested to make an emergency landing was the likely cause for the smaller jet to stop on the taxiway, thus allowing the aircraft in distress to land.

The responsibility will likely fall in the hands of the 767 pilots, as this was the aircraft which struck the smaller jet. Regardless of why the smaller jet had stopped, the 767 pilot has the responsibility to ensure that there is enough room to safely pass by. The difficult part of this whole situation is that it is nearly impossible for a pilot of a 767 to see the wings, especially the wingtips. Therefore, in this situation as a pilot of such a large aircraft they are at the mercy of the other pilots and ground control crews. This is an incident that will likely be used in the future for airline safety training purposes and hopefully help to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future.