Six injured as two Northwest planes collide on ground at airport
5/11/2005, 6:21 a.m. ET
By AMY FORLITI
The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) "” A Northwest Airlines DC-9 that had reported hydraulic problems collided with a Northwest Airbus on the ground at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, injuring six people.

The accident happened shortly after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when the DC-9 landing from Columbus, Ohio, lost control of steering as it was taxiing to its gate and the Airbus was backing away from its gate for takeoff to San Antonio.

The DC-9 had 94 passengers and five crew members on board. The Airbus was carrying 38 passengers and five crew members.

The injured included four crew members from the DC-9 and two ground employees. No passengers were hurt, but one complained of shortness of breath and was treated as a precaution.

None of the injuries appeared life-threatening, said Northwest spokesman Thomas Becher.

Passengers on both planes were evacuated, said Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The escape slide on the Airbus had been deployed.

"Once we got close to the terminal, everyone was just kind of waiting to pop the belt and start getting off the plane," Toray Henry, a DC-9 passenger from Columbus, told KSTP-TV. "It seemed like it kind of surged into the other plane. We knew that it hit another plane, and that's why I think most of us were concerned about an explosion."

After the crash, the DC-9 appeared to be partially lodged underneath the Airbus. The top of the DC-9's cockpit area made contact with the Airbus' wing and was damaged.

Hogan said the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, and the planes could not be moved until investigators arrived. The planes were not affecting other air traffic.

The hydraulic system on an aircraft controls mechanics such as steering.


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