UPS Freighter and Copa Jet Collide on a Miami International Taxiway; Two Treated for Minor Injuries

A UPS cargo jet and a Copa Airlines passenger plane collided on a taxiway at Miami International Airport on Saturday night, and two people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, airport officials said, according to ABC News. Patch reported, citing airport officials, that neither person had to be taken to a hospital.

The two aircraft made contact at about 9:15 p.m. where two taxiways meet, Gulf News reported. The New York Post described a cargo jet striking a commercial airliner as the two planes moved on the ground.

The Copa jet, a Boeing 737-800, had just arrived from Panama City and was taxiing toward its gate, while the UPS Boeing 767 was preparing to depart for Bogotá, Colombia, according to the reports. The Federal Aviation Administration said the tip of the Copa jet's left wing struck the nose of the UPS freighter.

The FAA also said air traffic controllers had told the UPS crew to give way to the Copa flight, Gulf News reported. The agency has opened an investigation.

That instruction will sit at the center of the inquiry. Investigators will want to know what the UPS crew heard, what it read back to the tower, and whether anything about the taxi route, the lighting or the signs at that intersection played a part. None of that has been determined, and the FAA has not assigned fault. A clearance to hold or give way is one of the most routine calls a ground controller makes, which is exactly why a missed one deserves a careful, unhurried look rather than a rush to blame.

UPS said its crew was safe and that the company is working with the authorities. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue handled the two minor injuries on the scene, according to the airport's account.

Airport officials said the collision did not disrupt operations and that other flights were routed around the two planes on alternate taxiways. For travelers heading through Miami on Sunday, that is the most important news: the airport kept moving.

The early reports did not say how many passengers were aboard the Copa jet or how long either aircraft would be out of service. A wingtip strike on a narrow-body jet usually means an inspection and repairs before that airplane flies again, and the nose of a wide-body freighter houses equipment that mechanics will want to examine closely.

The collision closed an unusually rough stretch for the country's aviation system. On Friday, a communications failure at air traffic control facilities forced a nationwide halt to departures, and on Saturday the FAA said the national flight schedule should be fully back to normal by the end of Sunday, CTV News reported. Nothing in the early reports ties Saturday night's collision in Miami to Friday's outage.

It is also the second serious ground event at Miami International this fall. On Sept. 6, a Boeing 767 cargo jet flying for Amazon overran a runway at the airport, struck vehicles and burst into flames, killing five people, the Insurance Journal reported. Federal investigators opened an inquiry into that crash.

Copa is Panama's flag carrier and flies its jets into Miami from its hub in Panama City, so the incident touched one of the most familiar routes between South Florida and Central America. Saturday's two airplanes reflect both halves of Miami's role as a crossroads with Latin America: a Panamanian airline bringing travelers in, and an American cargo carrier sending freight south to Colombia. South Florida families, workers and businesses depend on that link every day, and they have every reason to expect the people who run it to find out exactly what went wrong.

FAA investigators will review controller recordings and the movements of both aircraft, and the agency is expected to release more as its review moves forward. Until then, the facts are simple and reassuring: two airplanes touched, two people were treated for minor injuries, and the airport kept running. Liberty Bell Report will update this story as the FAA, the airport, UPS and Copa share more information.