Plane strikes truck at MIA

[Midnight Mike]

Sun, Jun. 10, 2007
Plane strikes truck at MIA

By EVAN S. BENN
An American Airlines flight at Miami International Airport hit a catering truck while the plane was being pushed back from its gate Sunday night, airport and airline spokesmen said.
No one was injured in the incident, but both the plane and the truck sustained considerable damage, American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said.

''There was some extensive damage to the bottom part of the aircraft and to the top of the truck,'' Wagner said.

There were 202 passengers and 12 crew members aboard Flight 68, a Boeing 767-300 scheduled to depart for Barajas Airport in Madrid at 6:15 p.m. The flight pushed back from the gate about 7:30 p.m., according to aviation website flightstats.com.

A tractor was helping to push the plane onto the tarmac when it struck the catering truck behind the aircraft, Wagner said.

''We have to review the videotape from the gate, and I'm not trying to assign blame, but in general the aircraft has the right-of-way,'' Wagner said.

Passengers might have felt ''a bump'' from the impact, he said. They returned to the terminal and were waiting for the airline to try to find another plane to take them to Spain.

Wagner said it was unclear how much it would cost to fix the damaged plane.

[hiss srq]

A lead and some wingwalkers are getting fired for this onme. That is for sure.

[AirtrafficController]

Driver's fault, he should of set the car next to the plane

[stuart schechter]

Driver's fault, he should of set the car next to the plane

Thats not the job of the rampie. That is a catering truck owned by, i'm guessing LSG and nobody knows wheather the truck was parked or the driver of the Catering truck was moving. Don't be so quick to put blame on people.

[T-Bird76]

The marshaller who were guiding the plane back should have stopped the push back. Sounds like a few people were at fault and soon to be out of a job.

[hiss srq]

The wing walker and push lead are automatically at fault. A catering truckis no small object. Not to mention the fact that even on the tug you can see clear through to the back from a tug having pushed a pair og 767's. The wing walkers and the lead will certainly be fired. Espesially if the truck was there stationary prior to push.