Minor Indcident in Providence Today

Well, there was a minor incident at Providence (my home airport!) today. I say minor because not too many passengers were affected and there were know injuries. But if you're a passenger that has been delayed for a few hours...then this is a big deal for you.

But anyway. There was an Embraer 175 being pushed back for US Airways' first flight of the day to Philadelphia. The aircraft was operated by Republic Airlines as US Airways Express. The winglet on the 175 ended up clipping one of the horizontal stabilizers of a US Airways A321 nearby. The larger A321 was scheduled to depart for Charlotte later in the day.

So both flights were canceled for (obvious) safety reasons - both aircraft need to be inspected to see what maintenance issues need to be addressed, if any, before they start flying normally again.

US Airways tells me all affected passengers have been booked on other US Airways flights or on other airlines.

Lesson from this? Always have a backup plan. It's always helpful to have a rough idea of an airline's route network when you're getting booked on another flight to see what works for you. When gate agents are dealing with a situation like this, when they're booking over 100 people, they might not generate the best option for you. So having an idea of what you're looking for helps.