Two Southwest Airlines jets had an unnervingly close encounter Thursday night at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, clipping each other during ground movement and making contact between a wingtip and tail surfaces. The Federal Aviation Administration says the incident happened while one of the aircraft was pushing back from its gate. Passengers on one of the planes later told reporters the jet kept rolling after the strike and that some people on board ended up flagging down the cockpit.
The FAA "said a plane's wing made contact with the other plane's tail as it was pushing back from the gate," according to Boston 25 News. The outlet reported that Southwest has pulled both aircraft aside for inspections and is reviewing what went wrong. Boston 25 placed the incident at T.F. Green on Thursday night.
Where it happened
T.F. Green is Rhode Island's main commercial airport, roughly six miles south of Providence, and counts Southwest among its largest carriers, according to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation's site. The airport's public materials spell out terminal operations, emergency response roles and the procedures used when there is any sort of ground contact between aircraft. As a regional hub with dozens of flights in and out every day, even minor scrapes can sideline jets while mechanics give the airframes a careful once-over.
Passengers' accounts
Some passengers told reporters they were the ones who had to get the cockpit's attention after the two jets made contact because their plane continued moving, Boston 25 News reported. The station's initial coverage did not note any injuries or major visible damage.
A recent pattern
The Providence run-in lands amid a string of ground and close-call incidents involving Southwest jets this spring. In early May, two Southwest planes reportedly clipped each other at Baltimore-Washington International, forcing both aircraft out of service, as CBS Baltimore reported. The FAA also opened a probe into a late April close call at Nashville International, where two Southwest flights came within a few hundred feet of each other before pilots took evasive action, according to WPXI.
What investigators will look at
The FAA maintains an accidents and incidents page and typically gathers preliminary information whenever it is notified of ground contact between aircraft, the agency's newsroom explains. Early reviews often zero in on radio communications during pushback, how ground crews were operating, and whether any maintenance or mechanical issues might have contributed. Airline, airport and federal officials will ultimately decide if either jet needs repairs or a longer grounding while inspections continue.
