Planes clip wings on Houston runway after string of close calls at US airports

There has been a string of close calls recently at airports around the United States. Photo / AP

The pilot of a twin-engine Hawker aircraft started rolling on a runway after being told to line up and wait for takeoff when the plane’s wing struck the tail of a twin-engine Cessna that had just landed at William P Hobby Airport in Houston, the United States National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday US time.

The Hawker aircraft became airborne before returning to the runway, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said, but it was not yet clear if the pilot failed to hear the instruction to wait.

“We haven’t verified that, that’s one thing we’re very interested in,” Knudson said.

None of the eight people on to two aircraft — five on the Cessna and three on the Hawker — was injured, the NTSB said.

An NTSB statement on X (formerly Twitter) said a six-person team of investigators was sent to the airport and a preliminary report on the collision is expected within 30 days.

A probable cause report on the Tuesday afternoon collision will take up to two years to complete, the NTSB said.

There were 54 flights cancelled and 78 diverted from the airport southeast of downtown while operations were suspended for more than three hours, according to ABC-13.

There has been a string of recent close calls at airports around the nation, and the Biden administration said in September that it will invest US$26 million ($45m) to address the problems. The money will go toward new safety measures, including automation to alert air traffic controllers about planes that are heading for the wrong runway.