Two planes collided at New York airport: one of them noticed a breakdown only upon arrival in another country

More than a week ago, a strange incident occurred at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. On June 17, an ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 collided with an Air France Boeing 777-200 while taxiing out. Unaware of this, the A330 continued to take off and completed its flight to Rome, said Simple flying

On June 17, an ITA Airways aircraft (still in Alitalia livery) was scheduled to take flight AZ611 from New York to Rome. It was an Airbus A330-200 which is currently about 10 years old. Taxiing out onto the runway for departure, the plane crashed into an Air France Boeing 777-200 that had arrived from Paris CDG Airport.

While the crew of the ITA Airways A330 aircraft was completely oblivious to the collision, the Air France aircraft was well aware of what had happened. Responding quickly, the crew of the 777 urged ATC to keep the ITA aircraft on the ground.

“This is Air France 008, we are at the ninth counter. And behind us, an Alitalia plane flew by, which crashed into our plane. We are reporting this so that you can tell them not to take off,” Air France pilot.

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However, by the time ATC had figured out the situation, the A330 was already in the air and on its way across the Atlantic. ATC contacted the ITA Airways aircraft and inquired about the incident. However, the crew denied any incident during takeoff taxiing. The following conversation took place between air traffic control and an ITA Airways aircraft:

ATC: “Another aircraft currently on the ground, Air France, said you hit it or something while taxiing. Did you have any damage to the aircraft?”

ITA Airways Pilot: “No, sir.”

Damage discovered during landing in Rome

Although the ITA Airways crew denied that there had been any collision (and sincerely believed that there was), this was ultimately a lie. While landing in Rome, the A330 was found to have wing damage.

Details of the specific damage and its severity were not disclosed. However, it is known that the Air France plane is still parked at New York's Kennedy Airport. More than eight days have passed since the publication of this article. Such a period of time may indicate serious damage to the 777th. As for the ITA A330, the aircraft landed in Rome on 18 June and remained on the ground for approximately two days. And since then, subsequent flights have been made almost every day.

Neglecting protocol?

Aviation analyst John Nance said the responsibility of the ITA Airways crew was clear when they were told of the collision: "They absolutely should have turned the plane around and returned it to JFK for inspection."

Indeed, with such large long-haul aircraft, pilots may not notice an incident if it is minor. However, given that the A330 took off with a full cabin of passengers, it is interesting that none of these travelers even noticed the incident. Or, if they noticed, they may not have told any of the airline crew about it.

The FAA and ITA Airways are investigating the incident.