NEW YORK — A frightening collision between one of the world’s largest airliners and a commuter jet on a dark, wet tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport is underscoring worries about ground accidents as U.S. airports begin handling a new generation of giant planes.
A total of 586 passengers and crew members were aboard the two aircraft Monday night when the left wing of an Air France Airbus A380 clipped a Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet flown by Comair, spinning the smaller plane nearly 90 degrees.
No one was injured, but the impact tore open the leading edge of the Airbus’ left wing and broke off half the wing fence, a vertical fin that sticks out from the wingtip. The Bombardier had a hole in its rudder and a dent on the leading edge of its tail.
Audio of the collision indicates the Comair plane, which had just arrived from Boston, was trying to exit the taxiway as the France-bound Airbus made its way to the runway.
The superjumbo Airbus is so immense — as tall as a seven-story building, with a wingspan as wide as a Manhattan block — that its wing almost cleared the smaller plane. But not quite.
“It’s the sheer size of these aircraft and the congestion at these airports that’s the problem,” said Allan Tamm, a consultant with Avicor Aviation, based in Portland, Ore. “It’s a serious concern for all these airports trying to accommodate these aircraft. It’s going to happen more and more.”
Most U.S. airports cannot legally handle the A380 or the new Boeing 747-8 — which falls into the same new size class as the A380 — because of the Federal Aviation Administration space requirements aimed at keeping planes from bumping into one another. But the FAA can issue waivers if airport officials agree to certain procedures, such as using only certain taxiways or halting other traffic when one of these mammoth planes is on the move.
Fourteen airports, including Denver International, have obtained waivers from the FAA to receive the 747-8. And Boeing is working with 13 more airports to get approval.
Many of the airports asking for permission may have trouble handling the 747-8, especially when it is turning, Tamm said.
“A lot of these airports are only marginally ready,” he said.
The flurry of new waivers coincides with an increase in air traffic as the U.S. economy recovers. The number of passengers flying in the U.S. increased from 767 million in 2009 to 782 million in 2010.
JFK was built in the 1950s, when jets were smaller. Airport officials had to secure FAA waivers for the A380 and the 747-8. Monday’s collision might spur the FAA to take a second look at JFK’s rules for handling large aircraft.
“This wasn’t just two airplanes bumping together. The Air France plane really creamed the regional jet,” said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, an advocacy group.
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