Houston Hobby airport grounds all flight after plane collision: FAA

Publish date: 2024-05-15

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A Texas airport temporarily grounded all flights Tuesday when a private jet left “without permission” and collided with another aircraft on the tarmac, officials said.

A twin-engine Hawker H25B departed Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport “without permission” around 3:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, and struck a twin-engine Cessna C510 as it was landing on a nearby runway, the Federal Aviation Administration wrote on X.

“Two private jets clipped their wings as they were moving on the airfield…No injuries were reported,” Hobby Airport said in its own statement.

The two small planes had visible damage from the accident, footage from ABC13 showed.

“We just had a midair…you guys just cleared somebody to take off or land and we had a minor departure,” the pilot on the Cessna can be heard saying in audio obtained by the outlet.

The twin-engine Hawker H25B departed Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport “without permission” around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. ABC 13

No injuries were reported, but the airport shut down its airfield in order to clean up debris/

About 130 flights were delayed or canceled before flight operations resumed around 8 p.m., ABC13 reported.

Some passengers were sent to Bush Intercontinental Airport nearby, while others were diverted to other states, the outlet reported.

The runway was scattered with some debris from the collision. ABC 13
The incident is still under investigation. ABC 13

Some disgruntled passengers even left their luggage behind rather than wait for news, video from the inside Hobby Airport showed.

The number of passengers on both the Hawker and the Cessna has not been determined, the FAA said.

It is unclear if the pilot of the Hawker will face consequences for taking off without permission.

A team of six investigators is also set to probe the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board announced on X.

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