The 'damned scary' Airbus collision video

A super-jumbo jet clips a tiny commuter plane on the tarmac at JFK airport in New York — injuring none, but rattling many

A smaller plane passes under a jumbo jet on a JFK runway, a "fender bender" that left the little plane spun around.
(Image credit: YouTube)

The video: Monday night at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, a tarmac collision between two planes made for some "dramatic video," but, thankfully, no injuries for passengers. An Air France Airbus A380 — the world's largest passenger airliner with a 262-foot wingspan — smacked into a small regional jet operated by Delta, quickly spinning the little plane roughly 90 degrees. (See the video below.) "[Our plane] almost tipped over," a passenger on the Delta flight told the New York Daily News. "If ever there was an advert for keeping your seat belt on once you've landed, this was it." Yeah, "it was pretty damned scary," says a fellow passenger. Officials are investigating the collision.

The reaction: "The incident puts a spotlight on the concern that many airports in the United States are not equipped to handle the massive A380s," says Joseph Pedro at Passport Magazine. Yes, "the super-jumbo A380" does "create special challenges on the ground at airports," says Andrew Grossman in The Wall Street Journal. But sources say it was actually the smaller plane that moved too soon. Besides, "fender-benders between planes moving around on tarmacs happen occasionally," and don't usually cause much damage. Watch the accident unfold:

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