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Category: Air Transport / Accidents

'Almighty shudder' as two Virgin Australia planes clip wings

Wednesday, 7 Dec 2016 08:18:52

The two Virgin planes came into contact on the apron of the tarmac. (Twitter: Hayley Stuart)

Two Virgin Australia planes have clipped wings on the tarmac at Hobart Airport while passengers were boarding.

Damaged Virgin Australia plane wing Photo: The cabin crew initially attributed the jolt to a wind gust, said one passenger. (Twitter: Hayley Stuart)

Both planes had passengers on board — one bound for Sydney, the other for Melbourne — but the ABC understands no injuries resulted.

The planes made contact about 10:00am this morning.

Passenger Christopher Lawrence was on one of the planes, a Melbourne-bound flight scheduled to depart about 10:30am.

He said the collision happened while passengers were boarding.

"People were quietly coming on board when we suddenly felt an almighty shudder," he said.

"[It] visibly rocked the plane — people were almost knocked off their feet."

He said the cabin crew initially attributed the jolt to a 'gust of air', not the adjacent departing plane.

"A departing Virgin flight at the gate next door had clipped the wing," Mr Lawrence said.

"People were pretty level headed about it ... the crew were pretty good about it too."

Collision at Hobart Airport 'beggars belief'

Mr Lawrence was puzzled how the accident could happen when there were so few planes operating at the airport.

"It sort of beggars belief that at an airport such as Hobart, with a relatively low rate of traffic, that two planes could manage to drive into each other," he said.

Virgin Australia has released the following statement:

"Virgin Australia can confirm that two aircraft made light contact at the boarding gates at Hobart Airport. There was no safety risk during this time and engineers are currently inspecting the aircraft.

"We apologise for the delay to passengers and are working hard to have them on their way as quickly as possible."

Grounded Virgin passengers Tony and Marie Stewart Photo: Tony and Marie Stewart had boarded their Melbourne flight when they saw another plane edge close to theirs. (ABC News: Emilie Gramenz)

More to come.

AustraliaPlus


 

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