‘Really, really scary’: B.C. woman among passengers as planes collide on SeaTac tarmac – BC | Globalnews.ca

A North Vancouver woman said her vacation in Puerto Vallarta got off to a bumpy start on Wednesday when she was sitting in her airline seat on Seattle’s SeaTac tarmac.

“It was really, really scary,” Jackie Patton told Global News.

“No one knew what was going on, but it just happened very quickly.”

Patton was on a Delta flight and in line for de-icing when a taxiing Japanes Airlines plane struck the tail of her aircraft.

“The plane shook,” Patton said.

“There was a really loud noise and everyone started looking around. It was it was obvious that something was really wrong.”

The aftermath left the right wing of the Japan Airlines plane embedded in the tail of the Delta Airlines plane. Passengers on the Japan Airlines flight say they felt a strong jolt.

No one was injured on either flight and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it is investigating.

“One or both aircraft were probably slightly off their track… and the cockpit is busy and (the pilots) are always checking (their) wingtips to make sure they’re clear,” Nigel Waterhouse with Can-Am Aerospace told Global News.

This collision comes while the aviation industry is under the microscope a week after multiple fatal crashes.

“I don’t believe that being on an aeroplane is any less safe today than it was last week or last year,” Waterhouse said.

Meanwhile, Patton said she was already a nervous flyer.

“It has definitely been on my mind, all these recent incidences,” she said. “And with how many flights go out every day, you never really think you’ll be affected, however, it can happen really quickly.”

After the collision, Patton and the other passengers were deplaned and were put on a different flight to Puerto Vallarta later in the day.

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