This has to be one of the most unusual airport accidents we’ve seen in a long time. You’d assume this is an AI video, or something, because of how strange it is, but it’s confirmed to be real.
In this post:
China Eastern A350 badly damaged at Shanghai Airport
This incident happened today (around 11:40AM local time on Saturday, May 2, 2026) at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA). It involves a five-year-old China Eastern Airbus A350-900 with the registration code B-324W, which had just completed flight MU5406, the 1,033-mile domestic journey from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU).
There’s video footage of this incident from many angles, down to a video of the flight attendants in the jump seat looking at the tail camera above them, confused by what’s going on. While the plane was pulling into the gate, it appears that it just couldn’t stop, causing the left engine and wing to hit the jet bridge.
However, rather than stopping, the plane then backed up with the reverse thrusters deployed, only to then ram into the jet bridge again. This looks like something straight out of a video game.
What could possibly explain this bizarre accident?
I think it’s safe to assume that something malfunctioned here, because suffice it to say, this isn’t how your typical gate arrival looks.
One would think that there was some sort of a brake failure, or something, or else the pilots would’ve… well, not done whatever that was. The fact that they then used reverse thrust further supports that theory, as one would assume they felt that was the only option to prevent the plane from moving forward more.
But I guess after using enough reverse thrust they put the plane back into idle, and then it moved forward again? It’s really the re-ramming of the jet bridge that’s the biggest mystery here.
It’s way too early to know where the blame falls here, and it’s also entirely possible that the pilots deserve credit for preventing a worse outcome, like crashing into the terminal (which could’ve been much more serious).
Reports suggest that the plane ultimately came to a stop by the pilots just cutting the engines, so one wonders why that wasn’t done earlier, and just how sudden any possible brake failure was. Anyway, yowzers. It appears that all passengers onboard were uninjured, and hopefully anyone who may have been in the jet bridge didn’t sustain significant injuries either.
Bottom line
A China Eastern Airbus A350 sustained major damage today while pulling into its gate at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. For whatever reason, the plane couldn’t come to a stop, so its left engine and wing rammed the jet bridge. The pilots then immediately used reverse thrust to back up the plane, only to then collide with the jet bridge again.
What do you make of this strange accident?
"I think it’s safe to assume that something malfunctioned here, because suffice it to say, this isn’t how your typical gate arrival looks."
aww duh! You think?
It was indeed a complete brake system failure.
As another poster said, Abnormal Procedure is to use Rev Thrust but I can imagine not very well trained for and tricky to control.
Unfortunately cancelling Rev Thrust is just redirecting the flow again, so until you can shut off power it's going to keep moving.
Can’t drive can’t fly
This is clearly a practice on a potential attack on US soil by China and it's been leaked.
The best course of action is to ban all Chinese airlines from entering US airspace going forward to protect us.
Only one country continously invades others and it's not China. Seppo scum.
Reverse thrust is SOP for airbus in this situation. However, once it’s engaged, it’s very difficult to control. It requires a soft touch and in tight corners, it’s a challenge. But it’s a bit much to call things bizarre when they are simply above and beyond the knowledge level of the person covering it as an amateur.
@ Lxf -- "But it’s a bit much to call things bizarre when they are simply above and beyond the knowledge level of the person covering it as an amateur."
Bizarre is defined as "strange, unusual, or unexpected." Regardless of whether or not there's a perfectly good explanation for this, I think it's fair to describe this is bizarre, as we almost never see something like this.
A bit like drivers relying on sat nav’s and not watching the road pilots have become reliant on Visual Docking Guidance System (VDGS) for gate arrival, all it needs is someone on the ground to have put in say A320 by mistake and then this happens the pilot continues to the stopping point for the smaller airframe and the bridge gates are way out of pre alignment.
How baby A350s are made
That’s what Xi said…
Get there itis ?
I thought reverse thrust was no longer a thing in modern airplanes :O
That's gonna be an expensive fix