MIAMI: In yet another concerning incident shaking the United States aviation sector, a Copa Airlines passenger jet and a UPS cargo aircraft collided on a taxiway at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, leaving two passengers with minor injuries.
The collision occurred at approximately 9:15 PM local time as the two Boeing aircraft moved along the airport’s taxiways. According to airport and airline officials, the wingtip of a Copa Airlines Boeing 737 struck the nose of a UPS Boeing 767 cargo plane.
The Copa Airlines flight (Flight 427) had just arrived from Panama City, Panama, carrying 166 passengers and six crew members on board. The UPS cargo flight (Flight 358) was scheduled to depart Miami for Bogota, Colombia.
Passengers and Crew Safe, Investigation Underway
Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio captured tense moments following the incident, with pilots reporting the contact and controllers immediately ordering aircraft to hold positions. One of the pilots could be heard saying over the radio, “Somebody hit us,” while footage shared by passengers on social media showed visible structural damage to the aircraft’s nose section.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue confirmed that two passengers received immediate medical attention from airport paramedics on the scene for minor injuries. The remaining passengers and all six crew members were reported to be safe. Copa Airlines confirmed that the aircraft was safely towed to the terminal where all passengers successfully disembarked.
Timing Heightens Aviation Anxieties
The mishap occurred just a day after a massive nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) triggered widespread travel chaos, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers across the United States due to aging air traffic control technology and data router overloads.
Aviation authorities, including the FAA, have launched a comprehensive investigation to determine the exact sequence of errors that led to the taxiway collision. Airport officials noted that operations faced minimal disruptions as affected taxiways were temporarily bypassed.
