A low-speed collision between two Delta Air Lines regional jets occurred in the overnight hours on a taxiway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Endeavor Flight 5155 was taxiing for departure when its wing struck the cockpit of Flight 5047, which had just arrived from Charlotte, North Carolina. Flight 5155 was preparing to depart for Roanoke, Virginia.
“We have two CRJs on (taxiway) M that collided,” one of the pilots of Flight 5047 told LaGuardia ground controller in recorded audio found on website LiveATC.net. The pilot continued, “Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit wind screens.”
Delta responded to the incident, saying, “Delta teams at our New York-LaGuardia hub are working to ensure our customers are taken care of after two Delta Connection aircraft operated by Endeavor Air were involved in a low-speed collision during taxi. Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else. We apologize to our customers for the experience.”
The incident occurred at around 9:56 p.m. local time. The pilot in command of Flight 5155 is ultimately responsible for the low-speed collision. No deep dives (yet) from internet sleuths to suggest DEI was involved…
As a reminder, regional airlines are often operated by younger or less-experienced pilots (remember this) who are building flight hours before transitioning to major carriers and larger aircraft, such as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.