American Airlines flight damaged after hitting runway sign on takeoff
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a scary incident for passengers after an American Airlines collided with a runway sign on takeoff at New York JFK Airport.
According to one passenger on Twitter, the plane was missing ‘a big chunk of the wing’ but managed to land safely back at the airport.
There were no injuries to the 102 passengers and eight crew.
According to Steve Coleman, spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the plane hit a navigational sign adjacent to the runway, which suggests the plane wasn’t lined up correctly on the runway for takeoff.
"Our team is currently reviewing the incident and inspecting the aircraft. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and we are sorry for the inconvenience," the airline said in a statement.
Passenger Scott Laser described the terrifying incident to ABC 7.
"The plane veered left when it hit something and then it took a sharp right turn at takeoff where I was on the right side of the plane and I was looking straight down at the ground. I cried the whole way back and many others did also."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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