Copa jet with 172 aboard clips UPS cargo plane at Miami airport
A Copa Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 172 people clipped a UPS cargo plane while taxiing at Miami International Airport. Two passengers had minor injuries.
Livefeed News DeskUpdated · 3 min read
Quick answer
A Copa Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 172 people and a UPS Boeing 767 cargo plane collided while taxiing at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, 14 November. The FAA said the Copa jet’s wingtip struck the UPS plane’s nose. Two passengers were checked for minor injuries, and the FAA is investigating.
Key facts
- The wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 while both were taxiing.
- The Copa flight was carrying 166 passengers and six crew members.
- Air traffic controllers had told the UPS crew to give way to the Copa flight.
- Two passengers were evaluated for apparent minor injuries and neither needed hospital transport.
- The collision came a day after an FAA nationwide ground stop.
- The FAA is investigating the collision.
What happened on the taxiway
A Copa Airlines passenger jet and a UPS cargo plane collided while taxiing at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, 14 November. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the wingtip of the Copa Boeing 737 struck the nose of the UPS Boeing 767. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue identified the Copa aircraft as a Boeing 737-800NG.
Copa Flight 427 had arrived from Panama City and was taxiing towards the terminal. UPS Flight 358 was taxiing for departure to Bogotá, Colombia. The FAA said air traffic controllers had instructed the UPS crew to give way to the Copa flight before the two aircraft made contact.
Accounts of the timing vary slightly. The FAA put the collision at around 9pm. Greg Chin, communications director at the airport, said an arriving and a departing aircraft made contact at approximately 9:15pm at the intersection of two taxiways.
Was anyone hurt?
The Copa flight was carrying 166 passengers and six crew members, 172 people in total. Two passengers were evaluated by airport paramedics for apparent minor injuries, the airline said, and Chin said neither needed to be taken to hospital. The Guardian reported that two people had minor injuries and received treatment.
Early statements did not all match. Chin’s initial statement to CBS News Miami said “There are no reported injuries”. One passenger told CBS that his wife had suffered a spinal injury; CBS said the extent of her injury was not independently confirmed.
The aircraft reached the terminal, all passengers got off, and the remaining passengers and crew were reported to be in good condition. UPS said its crew was safe.
What passengers and the radio captured
Air traffic control audio included a voice saying “Somebody hit us”. In another exchange, one voice asked “Did you hit that aircraft?” and the reply was: “Yeah, we went too far, and he clipped us with the wing”.
Copa passenger Cesar Ferreira told CNN that the plane was taxiing at normal speed after landing when he heard a collective scream and then felt the impact. “Inside the cabin, we felt the plane jerk abruptly sideways,” he said, adding that the crew quickly got everyone to stay seated.
Another passenger, Jesús Salon, said in Spanish: “We had already landed. Everything was calm when a woman next to me started screaming that we were going to crash”.
What the airlines and the FAA have said
The FAA said it is investigating. Copa said it “regrets the disruption this incident may cause our passengers” and would cooperate with the authorities.
UPS said: “Our crew is safe, and we are committed to working with authorities to determine what happened”. The airport said flights were sent to other taxiways, so operations were not affected.
A rough weekend for US air travel
The collision came a day after the FAA issued an hours-long nationwide ground stop on Friday because of communication problems affecting several air traffic control centres. The Trump administration said the four-hour stoppage stemmed from botched routine maintenance to move telecommunication lines from copper wire to fibre optic cables. Federal officials also linked the outage to ageing air traffic control equipment, including switches and routers overloaded with data.
Thousands of flights were delayed or cancelled over the weekend. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed a lack of congressional funding for the need for the maintenance, while critics said the White House has not spent money already apportioned for upgrades. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said on Saturday that US flight schedules were expected to return to normal by the end of Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
Which planes collided at Miami airport?
A Copa Airlines Boeing 737-800NG arriving from Panama City and a UPS Boeing 767 cargo plane departing for Bogotá.
Was anyone injured in the Miami airport collision?
Two Copa passengers were evaluated for apparent minor injuries and neither needed hospital transport. One passenger said his wife hurt her spine, which CBS could not independently confirm.
How did the collision happen?
The FAA said the Copa jet’s wingtip struck the UPS plane’s nose while both were taxiing, after controllers had told the UPS crew to give way. The FAA is investigating.
Did the collision disrupt flights at Miami International Airport?
The airport said flights were directed to other taxiways and operations were not affected.
