O'Hare International Airport and American Eagle, which operates regional flights for American Airlines, have not been friendly to each other this week. Within 24 hours, there were two separate incidents that left passengers jolted on different American Eagle planes at the busy Chicago airport.
On Wednesday, passengers aboard American Eagle Flight 4265 were given a scare as the tail of their plane was clipped by the ring wing of a passing Boeing 747 around 1pm. The plane had just arrived from Springfield, Missouri when it was struck while taxiing. The other plane was operated by EVA airways, heading to Anchorage, Alaska.
None of the 18 passengers or three crew members on board was injured.
Around 9am on Thursday morning, American Eagle Flight 4096 veered off the runway at O'Hare. The plane had departed for Tulsa but the pilot requested to return after reporting an issue with the landing gear. The plane turned back for O'Hare and landed safely, but it then skidded off of the runway onto the grass and then back onto the pavement.
The incident closed a busy runway which caused a few delays.
None of the 31 people on board were hurt in this incident. They were taken by bus to another gate. They were transferred to another flight heading to Tulsa.
O'Hare airport is the sixth busiest passenger airport in the world, yet it has had several slip-ups. Last year, federal officials launched an investigation of O'Hare after there were numerous mistakes made by air traffic controllers. Many of the errors involved failing to keep a proper distance between planes on the ground and in the air, which may have been to blame for Wednesday's incident.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
