http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/11/new.yo ... google_cnn
Of course the two questions on everybody's mind are whether it was Flyboy at fault, and whether it is economically feasible for Air Frane to repair the wing.(CNN) -- An Air Frane Airbus 380 clipped a smaller plane while taxiing to the runway for takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to CNN's Jim Bittermann, who was on the Air France flight headed to Paris.
Bittermann said that he felt a slight rumble -- akin to hitting a patch of rough pavement-- as his plane was moving on the ground Monday at about 8:15 p.m. The pilot then stopped the aircraft, which is regarded as the world's biggest passenger jet, and eventually fire department crews surrounded it and the other plane.
The tail of Comair flight 6293, a Delta Connection flight that had recently arrived from Boston, was struck by the Air France aircraft while waiting to park at the New York airport, said Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton.
Looking out the window, Bittermann could see that the last foot or so of the Airbus 380's left wing had been damaged. The other plane also suffered some damage.
"You could see the part of the 380's wing hanging down from the horizontal stabilizer of the Delta jet," he said, having seen the damage firsthand from a seat on the larger plane's left side.
There were no injuries, said a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who declined to give her name.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified about the incident, and Port Authority police detectives were interviewing the pilots of both aircraft, the Port Authority spokeswoman said.
Those on the Comair flight were later able to get off the plane normally, according to Talton.
The Air France flight 007 originally had been scheduled to take off at 7:15 p.m. for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, according to that airline's website. But, after the incident, it turned around and all its passengers deplaned and picked up their baggage at the New York airport.
Bittermann described passengers' mood aboard that flight as relatively light-hearted and calm, after the pilot alerted them of what happened.
"People started making jokes," he said, while waiting to pick up his bags in New York. "But I think the jokes will stop when they start finding out that they may be stuck here for a while."
