An accident happened on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) between a plane and bus, and it unfortunately caused some hospitalizations. I first wrote about this yesterday, but there are now pictures of the damage to the plane, and it’s much more extensive than I was expecting. This plane will be out of service for some time.
American plane & bus crash at LAX
Shortly after 10PM on Friday evening, an American Airlines Airbus A321 and a bus collided at LAX. The jet didn’t have any passengers onboard, but rather was being towed by ground personnel using a tug. Meanwhile the bus was carrying passengers between American’s Terminals 4/5 and the American Eagle terminal, which is a remote terminal that’s not otherwise connected to the main terminals (this is often referred to as the “Eagle’s Nest”).
It’s not yet entirely clear how this accident happened, but since planes always have the right of way over buses on taxiways, it seems likely that the bus driver may have been at fault. Footage from the scene shows some major skid marks from the aircraft, which suggests that the driver of the tug saw this happening and tried to avoid an accident.
Unfortunately at least four people have been hospitalized due to this incident, including the bus driver, the person towing the plane, and two passengers on the bus. Hopefully they all make a quick recovery, as they’re reportedly not in critical condition.
Based on images from the scene, it appears that the bus was most damaged around the front left windshield. Interestingly when rescue personnel arrived, the plane was quite far from the bus, so it’s not clear if it was moved after the fact, or what happened.
This wasn’t just an accident between the tug and bus, though, as the plane also sustained significant damage. The plane involved in this incident has the registration code N193UW, and you can see some pictures of the damage below. I can’t imagine this will be flying again anytime soon.
I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often
Having taken the bus to American’s “Eagle’s Nest” more times than I can count, I can’t help but point out how carelessly so many of the drivers perform their jobs. I’ve seen drivers try to speed up to cut off planes, text and drive, and just generally act as if they’re swerving through Miami traffic (I’m convinced we have the world’s worst drivers), rather than driving a bus carrying passengers who are standing and without seatbelts.
While I of course hate to see this happen, I unfortunately can’t say that I’m surprised, and I’m amazed it doesn’t happen more often. I’m curious what an investigation reveals in terms of how this happened, and what changes are made to avoid this in the future.
Bottom line
Late Friday night, an American Airlines A321 being towed and a bus crashed on the ground at LAX. The bus unfortunately had passengers onboard, and there ended up being four hospitalizations, and further minor injuries. Furthermore, the plane sustained serious damage, and will likely be out of service for quite some time.
Given my experience with how the bus drivers at LAX often perform their duties, I can’t say I’m surprised.
What do you make of this incident at LAX?
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