AP: A frightening collision between one of the world's largest airliners and a commuter jet on a dark, wet tarmac at Kennedy Airport is underscoring worries about ground accidents as U.S. airports begin handling a new generation of giant planes.
The superjumbo Airbus is so immense — as tall as a seven-story building, with a wing span 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 747-8 because of FAA space requirements aimed at keeping planes from bumping into each other. 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.
Many of the airports asking for permission to handle the Boeing 747-8 may have trouble handling them, especially when aircraft are turning, Tamm said. "A lot of these airports are only marginally ready," he said.
JFK was built in the 1950s, when jets were smaller. Airport officials had to secure FAA waivers for both 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, said aviation consultant John Cox. The main danger in a collision between two taxiing aircraft is that a fuel spill will lead to a fire.
"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. The impact tore open the leading edge of the Airbus' left wing and broke off half of the wing fence, a vertical fin that sticks out from the wingtip, photos from the NTSB show. The Bombardier had a hole in its rudder and a dent on the leading edge of the tail.
In the dark and rain, "both pilots and controllers would have been confronted with a sea of flashing lights and reflections which could partly explain why the Air France pilot may not have seen the regional jet," Voss said.
Monday's collision shows the complexity of ground operations, a part of air travel often overlooked by passengers eager to get out of their seats and on their way home. Working ground control at a busy airport like JFK is one of the most demanding jobs in the nation's air traffic control system, Voss said. "It is extremely complex, highly visual, and the workload can become almost superhuman."
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