Heavyweight planes – including Donald Trump’s – clip their wings in minor incidents at South Florida airport – Sun Sentinel

Within 10 days, two international airports in South Florida were the scene of accidents involving large aircraft – including former President Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 – that were involved in separate crashes that resulted in wing clippings en route to their remote parking lots.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday that it is investigating both incidents. There were no injuries in either.

The most recent incident involved an Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo plane. Its right wing tip “struck a hangar at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport” on Tuesday afternoon, the FAA said in a statement.

The airline’s Flight 9330 was taxiing when the incident occurred, the agency said. He was in an area of ​​the airport “where the FAA does not direct aircraft.”

A photo taken by the South Florida Sun Sentinel showed the right side of the four-engine plane in close proximity to the abandoned Signature Flight Support hangar at 4050 SW 11th Terrace.

Atlas did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The global airline, based in White Plains, NY, operates cargo and charter flights to six continents. According to the airline’s website, its passenger planes have already flown with the Miami Dolphins.

‘Sheet metal damage’

Trump’s Boeing 757 also began taxiing again early on the morning of May 12 after landing safely at Palm Beach International Airport at 1:20 a.m. According to an FAA statement, one of its winglets struck “a parked and unoccupied corporate jet.”

It was not known whether Trump, who had campaigned in New Jersey the day before, was on board.

As with the Atlas incident, the 757 was “in an area of ​​the airport where the FAA does not provide guidance for aircraft,” the agency said.

In its statement, the FAA did not name the owner of the plane. However, the agency’s public notice of the incident listed the aircraft’s registration number: N757AF. It is an aircraft owned by DJT Operations I LLC, a company owned by the former president and from which he resigned in early 2017 after moving into the White House.

The corporate aircraft that was hit was registered to VistaJet, a private charter company, the FAA said. The public report did not contain any information about damage to the two aircraft.

The incident in West Palm Beach was not the first for the Trump Boeing 757.

In 2018, one of his winglets was struck by the tail of a taxiing Global Express Bombardier plane at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The Trump jet was parked and unoccupied at the time, records show.

A news report from The Associated Press at the time called the New York incident a “fender bender.”