Sticking to operational procedures is critical for flight safety, not just in the air but also while navigating aircraft on the ground. There have been several incidents of airplanes colliding with objects on the ground or clipping wings with another aircraft, and one such incident recently took place at Boston Airport.
American and Frontier Airlines’ planes clip wings
On November 25, two aircraft – one belonging to 
American Airlines and the other to Frontier Airlines – clipped wings on the tarmac at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). The American Airlines flight had arrived from London Heathrow Airport while the Frontier plane was scheduled to depart for Dallas. USA Today quotes a Frontier Airlines spokesperson as saying,
“There were 200 passengers on board at the time of the incident. No injuries were reported among passengers or crew on the Frontier aircraft.”
The cause of this incident is not yet known, but the Federal Aviation Administration is said to be investigating. Thankfully, there have been no reports of anyone getting injured on the plane or the ground. American Airlines, too, released a statement that said,
“While pulling into its gate at Boston (BOS), American Airlines flight 109 … made contact with a nearby parked aircraft. There were no reported injuries, and customers deplaned the aircraft shortly after. The aircraft has been removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this caused.”
About the aircraft involved
The American Airlines airplane involved in the incident was a Boeing 777-200ER. It departed London at 10:37 and arrived in Boston at 12:00 after flying for over six hours.
Photo: Ceri Breeze | Shutterstock
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft (registered N772AN) was still in Boston and had not been deployed on any other flight after the incident as of November 26. According to ch-aviation, the aircraft is almost 26 years old and was delivered to American in March 1999. As of June 2024, it has accumulated more than 97,000 flight hours across 12,652 flight cycles.
The other aircraft belonging to Frontier Airlines was an Airbus A321 that was scheduled to operate flight F93601 to Dallas. It sports Cubby the Bear livery and has also remained grounded in Boston since the incident, Flightradar24 shows.
According to ch-aviation, the A321 is registered as N714FR and is 8.25 years of age. It was delivered in September 2016 and has accumulated more than 25,000 flight hours across 10,842 flight cycles as of August 2024.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that two planes have clipped wings at an airport, and certainly not in the United States. Earlier this year, two such incidents took place just days apart. One of them was at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) when a United Airlines Airbus A319 accidentally clipped the wing of another United aircraft.
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Both aircraft suffered damage, however there were no reported injuries
The other incident involved two American Airlines jets at Philadelphia International Airport. One of the planes was fully loaded and ready to depart for Charlotte, while the other was parked at the adjacent gate. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.
