MIAMI – Federal aviation investigators were examining a minor collision Sunday at Miami International Airport after the wingtip of a Copa Airlines jet struck the nose of a UPS cargo plane at a taxiway intersection. Two people sustained minor injuries, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. Saturday and involved a Copa Boeing 737 carrying 172 people and a UPS Boeing 767 freighter, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and Copa. The NTSB said the Copa aircraft’s wing collided with the front of the UPS plane.
Images from the airport showed a horizontal tear along one side of the UPS aircraft’s nose, along with a larger hole near the center.
In air traffic control audio obtained by ATC.com, the UPS pilot told controllers that he had gone too far into the intersection and that the Copa jet clipped his aircraft. Controllers responded that the UPS plane was required to yield to the Copa flight.
The NTSB said it was collecting information about the collision and could issue an update Sunday.
The Copa flight had arrived from Panama City, while the UPS aircraft was bound for Bogota, Colombia, officials said.
Copa described the incident in a social media statement as minor and said two passengers were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
UPS said it was cooperating with authorities as they worked to establish what led to the collision.
“We cannot speculate on the details of the incident,” UPS said in a statement. “The National Transportation Safety Board is responsible for investigating incidents like this and will control the flow of information.”
The collision occurred two months after an Amazon cargo aircraft ran off a runway at Miami International Airport and struck a van carrying employees of an airplane-cleaning company, killing five people.
