While we occasionally see aircraft have incidents on the ground, this has to be one of the worse ones we’ve seen in quite some time (perhaps since a Delta A350 sliced the tail off a Delta Connection CRJ-900). I first covered this yesterday, but want to provide an update, as we now have the ATC audio of the incident, which provides a bit of clarity regarding what happened.
In this post:
Two Delta Connection CRJ-900s have LaGuardia accident
Shortly before 10PM on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, we saw a pretty wild accident at New York LaGuardia Airport. It involves two Delta Connection aircraft, both of which are Bombardier CRJ-900s operated by Endeavor Air, Delta’s wholly owned regional subsidiary.
Specifically, it involves flight DL5155, which was taxiing for departure, bound for Roanoke, Virginia (ROA), and flight DL5047, which was taxiing after landing, arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT). Based on preliminary details, it appears that the wing of the departing aircraft made contact with the nose of the arriving aircraft.
VASAviation has a video with the air traffic control audio, combined with the movement of the aircraft:
- Endeavor 5047 was given clearance to taxi via B and M
- Endeavor 5155 was given permission to taxi via A and E, to hold short of 4, and “at M, to give way to company”
Those instructions were read back correctly, so one wonders where the confusion came from. DL5155 was supposed to give way to DL5047, but didn’t.
There were a total of 93 people onboard the two aircraft, and one flight attendant sustained minor injuries. One flight was carrying 61 people (57 passengers and four crew members), while the other flight was carrying 32 people (28 passengers and four crew members). As you’d expect, the departing flight was canceled.
Below is a video with a firsthand account of what happened, from someone on the arriving flight. Here’s what he described:
“It was a pretty violent collision. At the time, we didn’t really know like kind of what we hit. But it almost, what it sounded like was like a sardine can kind of opening. Like it was like something was being sheared off and, lo and behold, we looked at the right side of the plane, and the wing looked like it was almost like off the plane.”
In response to the incident, Delta has issued the following statement:
Delta teams at our New York-LaGuardia hub are working to ensure our customers are taken care of after two Delta Connection aircraft operated by Endeavor Air were involved in a low-speed collision during taxi. Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else. We apologize to our customers for the experience.
This is a puzzling accident… let’s see how this unfolds
There’s no denying that LaGuardia Airport has more than its fair share of incidents, given the amount of traffic the airport has, the extent to which it operates close to capacity, plus the small total size of the field. So whether it’s close calls on the runways or on the taxiways, it’s not surprising to see something like this happen at LaGuardia.
That being said, this incident is a mystery. Typically when we see a ground incident like this, two planes may just barely clip their wings. In this case, though… damn, this was quite the impact!
What makes this even stranger is that the instructions from the air traffic controller were pretty clear, and they were also read back correctly. So were the pilots of one of the planes just confused about which “company” plane they were supposed to give way to, or what?
What’s also noteworthy here is that this accident happened on intersecting taxiways, and the planes were headed toward one another. So you’d think this would’ve been obvious visually, but… apparently not?
Bottom line
Two Delta Connection regional jets had an accident at LaGuardia Airport, whereby the wing of one aircraft made contact with the nose of another aircraft. This wasn’t just some minor bump, but instead, we’re talking about some major damage, given how the wing and windshields look. Fortunately there was just one minor injury, but ugh, this must have been pretty rough.
What do you make of this Delta Connection incident at LaGuardia?
Listening to the audio, the landing aircraft was told to exit on XRAY then right turn on ALPHA and to the gate. Since taxiway X is an "exit" from the runway, that aircraft had another aircraft landing behind him and needed to keep moving. Shortly thereafter, the other aircraft was told to taxi via ALPHA..blah blah to the takeoff runway. "Give way" means to do..JUST THAT.
2:22 in the YouTube video. That's our old friend, "fuel management is your priority, not mine", right?
Just curious
I am trying to parse, from the vasaviation video, the tower says:
Endeavor 5155, Ground 13, taxi Alpha, Echo, and hold short of 4. At Mike give way to company
https://resources.globalair.com/dtpp/globalair_00289ad.pdf
Taxi Alpha, Echo, hold short of 4 = what is echo and what is 4?
4 is the runway (runway 4/22). Echo is the taxiway that crosses it about halfway down.
He's giving them a taxi instruction to the active departure runway, 13, following taxiway Alpha and then turning on to taxiway Echo. On Echo, they are instructed to hold short of the intersecting runway 4, which would be used for arriving traffic.
Give me three instructions at 10pm after a long day, with the third being the first to follow, and I'm likely to make a mistake also. Glad I'm not a pilot.
The incompetence of ATC people is just getting ridiculous. It's a great opportunity for Trump to clean up the mess with this shutdown since that these people don't deserve a job anwyay.
Exactly. Trump should fire all the air traffic controllers, shut down the airports, close the borders, and confiscate passports. At least then Americans wouldn’t be able to export their dumbness abroad — and for once, the world might actually applaud a trump decision. :)
Yes shutting down air travel would be popular and politically brilliant
Yeah, that'd show 'em who's boss, and make the president more popular than ever.
The incompetence of Russian trolls is just getting ridiculous. It's a great opportunity for Putin to clean up the mess with his autocracy since those people don't deserve a job anyways.
Welp...as I said yesterday...this one was easy.
Turned out to be pilot error.
Now the question is...what caused the error?
Was he distracted?
New to the airfield?
Inadequate CRM?
The trump era is still only in infancy. Think about that.
We are paying for the sins of Biden and Buttigeg.
The chickens have come home to roost.
Nah, you can’t blame the Autopen anymore. Anything you don’t like now is on #47, and his enablers, alone.
Another 26 year old chick driving?
Delta will brush it off and say it's an Endeavor Air incident like they did with the YYZ case, like Endeavor is some kind of third party operator that is anything but "Delta".
That was exactly my thought; fortunately, Delta appears to be owning-up to this. Even so, it’s just an accident.
I blame Schumer
I blame ‘the Baileys.’
Premium collision
Ok, finally a sane comment on this incident
Brought to you by D&I initiatives.
Any proof of that or just spouting complete nonsense?
Hopefully Scott Kirby will touch on all these DL ground incidents (and subsequent decline of a formerly “premium” airline) on his next UA quarterly results call.
Delta talks like they are a premium airline and they can't even hire pilots that can control their planes on the ground. Delta is getting worse. United has passed them. Southwest would have passed them if the Elliott changes never happened. American is gaining fast, especially with the latest AA press releases.
Delta now has two less planes in their fleet...
So Delta Whomever you are ….
Note the Airlines World Rankings 2025.
Delta 22
United 51
Southwest 76
American 83
You are invited to reconsider the content of your post, yes?
These are not Delta mainline pilots, nor Delta mainline aircraft. Delta Connection.
Not Delta mainline pilots is totally meaningless. There were likely passengers that saw the name Delta and had confidence.
"To state the obvious" this happened on the first day of a federal government shutdown, when air traffic (and ground) controllers are being required to work without pay.
And if you recall, the last shutdown in 2019 ended when the NYC-area controllers ‘called out sick’ en-mass, practically ending that one. So, time to… do that again!
Still much more ahead
It seems we have had more ground incidents this year than in the past. Where are the improvements we've been premised?
* promised *
Removing humans from the controls?
There is no such thing as “Removing humans” bro, who do you think writes the programs for such “Controls”.
Please engage brain cell before attacking your keyboard, yes?
Some call it a collision, but others call it a Delta Connection.
thanks for the grin !
Good one!
This one should be easy to solve.
Either a bad instruction by ground or an error in following an instruction by the crew.
Side note...if Endeavor is looking to retire the CR9's and get E170/5's then totalling airframes is an odd way if going about it.
agree that the tapes should show what the ground controller said or didn't say but even if controllers were wrong, it is hard to understand how the pilots of the aircraft w/ the nose damage didn't see the other aircraft. We are talking about taxi speeds.
But unlike in a car, one can't reverse!
Hi Tim, one of the ‘Readers of Gary Leff’ convinced me to have a look at OMAAT. Glad to see you here.
Plus Delta landing upside down at YYZ and it's been quite the year for the Delta. Glad no one was seriously hurt.
Inb4 all the comments about Delta and premium.
-- real Julie
Is there a fake Julie? Like the one that attacks Tim at VFTW? Who’s the real REAL one…
There is no fake Julie, there is only one real Julie with split personalities due to my paranoid schizophrenia, which causes me to hallucinate and rage on the internet.