Delta A350 Slices Tail Off Regional Jet In Atlanta: How It Happened

Assuming that airplane accidents are treated similar to car accidents, it would show the A350 crew at fault. The CRJ crew were stationary whereas the A350 was moving and had the responsibility of making sure they were clear

Unfortunately (fortunately?) sounds like just an everyday occurrence in the A350 flight deck. Dealing with some outside party like MX control. Probably should have done that when stopped, but who knows if it was something that required movement to replicate or fix. I'm sure the final report will address.

This was the ground version of Eastern flight 401 - the pilots distracted by something other than operating the jet.

Given that Delta is receiving a boatload of A350s this year, they can afford to wait for the right parts from Airbus. The regional airlines are better able to staff regional aircraft so DL is not short of capacity because of this accident.

It does and will provide a reminder that full attention has to be paid when the aircraft is moving no matter how many pilots are in the cockpit.

they asked ATC to stop to address the issue and ATC said they could not stop there. They did not apparently wait to address the issue until the aircraft stopped moving.

There have been several taxiway “bumps” in the last few years. Most involving med sized twin jets and smaller regional jets. A detailed study would be needed, but I suspect the pilots have an inherent mind set from prior B767 or A330 duty and fail to appreciate or recognize the wider wingspan of B787 or A350 jets.

I thought that the 1500hr minimum for pilots was supposed to resolve issues like this.

Maybe 1500hrs isn't enough. Perhaps 2500hrs would be better?

Surely there’s a test in the A350 sim that makes pilots aware of how wide the wings are?

You realize the Airbus pilots can't see anything other than out in front of aircraft, so thats why they can only follow the taxi way lines to ensure they are where they are supposed to be. The comment that "they just can't runover things" is foolish. That is exactly what the ground control is responsible for. Be better.

Maybe a maximum hours rule is needed too. Retire after 27,000 hours like a high-mileage car. 🙂

lol absolute gold!

I have to be honest, going in depth on pilots and longshoremen labor negotiations recently has made me anti union just from a consumer perspective.

101 people died on Eastern 401, not the same. Do better.

Maybe it could be reverse? Hit high hours and go down to the sister brand kind of like National and Alamo?

Ground controller should have caught this one. Why in the heck is the CRJ stopped short ~56 feet before the hold short line ? That's a huge contributor to this accident. How about the ATC ground controller instructing "Endeavor 5526, taxi up to and hold short of 8R" ? ATL is the busiest airport in the world. No time for BS...these aviation professionals need to be on their game.

That's Tim Dunn for you.
For all he can think, let it be Eastern 401, Apollo 13, or 9/11, he can always fluff his way to relevance.

With chatGPTim, you'll always get at least 3-8 paragraphs of WTF!?!.

I realize that.... the cause was similar... pilot distraction.

The fact that the A350 was on the ground eliminated injuries but not damage.

There were FOUR pilots in the cockpit. Noticing wing clearance could and should have been done regardless of what was going on.

and let's also not forget that there have been some spectacular ground mistakes by pilots on other airlines including taxiing in the wrong place - - so the issue is hardly unique to A350s and CRJs

I'll raise your bet.

That's exactly what removing humans can do. Be better.

After 1500 hours, do you think Tim Dunn would end his fluff?

the entire premise is false.
A pilot from the cockpit of an A350 may not be able to see their own wingtip (maybe they can) but the CRJ was stopped BEFORE the A350 passed their position.
The A350 pilots replied to ATC that they were on the centerline. The issue is that the CRJ was far enough back that being on the centerline was not enough. The CRJ wasn't moving.

Delta is getting so many A350s they can afford to bang up the ones they have. Interesting logic.

The rest of the crew were checking their investments on the phone given all the money they are making now as Intl crew. Ya know, gotta make that money work before take off!

The comments that the Ground controller should have prevented this are incorrect.
Firstly the CRJ holding short of the runway,would undoubtedly have been on a tower frequency & so the ground controller, if & its a big if ,they noticed visually that the CRJ was not close enough to the hold bars ,they would have notified the tower controller,or cautioned the A350 crew,that the CRJ's position could impact the wingtip clearance of the Delta jet.However be aware that visibility from control towers doesn't necessarily allow a controller to see an aircraft stopped, 56 feet short of the hold line.
The statement that they were on the centreline,doesn't absolve the crew,because whilst taxiing,at an intersection of taxiways/ runways,the call should be " clear Left,clear right",from each pilot. If someone was looking out,on the right sideof the cockpit,they would clearly see that the CRJ was not right up to the hold line & that in itself,should have triggered extra caution.
I suspect that this is a case of just following Taxi instructions,staying on the centre line & thinking,that you won't hit anything. We'll that works 99% of the time,unfortunately that day the 1% kicked in & an aircraft didn't pull up fully to the hold line & a large wide body,that ordinarily would have passed the CRJ safely-as had happened,thousands of times- didn't!!!
A trip to the Chief Pilot's office,was next.

@JP, Unions are usually very strong advocates for the safety of their members, and that certainly includes pilots' unions. I don't think that's anti-consumer: as a consumer, I'm going to be a passenger, and I want the pilots flying the plane I'm in to be protected from labor practices that endanger my safety as well as theirs. As for longshoremen, well, it's easy to say that their high wages and protections from job losses due to automation are "anti-consumer" until you realize that they're not only workers, but consumers as well. If more people were unionized, wages would be higher, standard of living would generally be higher, and working conditions would generally be better. A short look at the economic history of the US since the late 1900s bears this out.

no, didn't say they can afford to bang up what they have....just that this will not have an impact on their operations until next year.

It's interesting to read how two different aviation bloggers interpret this incident, and where the fault lies. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2024/10/09/was-dramatic-accident-at-atlanta-airport-that-resulted-in-tail-being-sliced-off-delta-air-jet-caused-by-pilots-stopping-too-short-of-runway/

Yeah but since Delta pilots couldn't see the stopped and position of RJ, its up to ground control to be every pilots eyes

Pilot here. A lot of misinformed comments. Unfortunately experience from driving on roads can’t be transposed to taxiing at airports. The CRJ is at fault here.

Great care is put into designing airport taxiways to ensure they can accommodate the required aircraft. The yellow taxi lines are specifically designed to allow clearance between aircraft and other obstacles. It’s very poor practice to taxi off those lines, as they have already been pre-measured to ensure clearance. An aircraft on a centreline on a taxiway approved for their aircraft can be confident that they will fit, and not collide with anything. Again, this is all carefully planned and measured in advance for every aircraft type approved for a given taxiway. It’s not at all like driving. If aircraft taxi’d on the assumption that they may hit something this would dramatically slow operations. At an international airport like ATL, on a main taxiway, aircraft can taxi up to 30mph.

Aircraft are expected to hold at or very close to hold short bars. By not taxiing up to the bars, the CRJ basically threw all the careful planning and measurements made when certifying the taxiways out the window.

Depending on the aircraft it is very difficult to monitor the wingtips when taxiing, and it isn’t usually required when on an centreline on an approved taxiway.

There are occasions where aircraft have to taxi on part of the airport not approved for their aircraft type. In these instances wing walkers are required to ensure there are no collisions. This isn’t one of those cases.

I hope this helps informs anyone who isn’t familiar with airport design, layout and standard operations at a busy airport like ATL.

JB ... with all due respect ...to state "CRJ at fault here" is flat out wrong. A contributing factor ...YES, but ultimately, in airline operations, the First Officer in the right seat is resposible for ensuring the way is clear on the right. The Captain is responsible for ensuring this as well, since the Captain is actually taxiing the aircraft. when in doubt, STOP. Both pilots failed to ensure the way was clear. Apparently no talk on the CVR related to the presence of the CRJ at all,... will be interesting to hear if there was ever a "clear left" call-out made. Painted taxi lines DO NOT guarantee clearance from movable vehicles, aircraft or objects ... only guarantees clearance from fixed airport infrastructure or in the case of ramp operations fully parked and chocked aircraft.
An Airline Captain

remove humans .... a great idea :/ .... I'm guessing you are not an airline pilot

A & P Mechanic here. I have taxied all sizes of commercial aircraft at ATL airport and the driver of the aircraft is supposed to have a sense of his/her's wing span and taxi accordingly. Now, the controller is partly to blame but the tower is far from the incident point. The pilot and copilot are right there. So I'm calling the pilot is the one that caused this. The runway hold line is not the issue. The FAA does not dictate where you stop, just that you don't cross it.

I just heard the audio, the CRJ captain was female, thus she was 56 feet from the line she was supposed to pull up to…..‍♂️

DL295 business class passenger. My champagne got spilled all over me.