On Tuesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, an American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER had a run in with the wing tip of a 757 (N173AN), causing damage to the 777s wing. Two photos uncovered on a Reddit post by user “blinkidy” show the wing tip of a 737 piercing the underside of the left wing on one of Americans brand new 777s.
We reached out to American for comment, and they confirmed that the Reddit post was indeed legitimate. “We did have an incident involving two aircraft this afternoon at JFK. Both aircraft were empty, no passengers were on board.”
The Reddit post also contained a brief explanation of the incident, which reads “the story behind this is the mechanic finished his work and was taxing the 777 back but he taxied to the wrong spot not designated for a 777.” American flight 951 to Sau Paulo, Brazil was cancelled, a flight operated by the 777-300ER, presumably as a result of the accident.
The accident is yet another in a recent string of bumper planes at JFK. Just last week, a TAM Airbus A330 had its winglet embedded into the side of a hangar. In March, the winglet of an Air India 777 sliced through the rudder of a JetBlue A320. Back in 2011, an Air France Airbus A380 spun around a Comair CRJ700 like a toy.
(Tip of the hat to @jclear on Twitter for bringing this to our attention)
