UPS cargo plane and Copa Airlines flight collide on Miami taxiway

A UPS cargo jet bound for Bogota, Colombia, and a Copa Airlines flight arriving from Panama City collided on a taxiway at Miami International Airport at about 9:15 p.m. on Saturday. The Copa pilot reported the incident on the radio, saying the aircraft had been hit, and the UPS pilot acknowledged that the cargo plane had gone too far and was clipped by the passenger plane's wing.

"UPS 358, did you hit that aircraft?" asked the air traffic controller, and the cargo pilot responded, "Yeah we went too far and he clipped us with his wing."

Miami International Airport communications director Greg Chin said flights were being rerouted to other taxiways and that airport operations were not affected. Two individuals received on-site treatment for minor injuries from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and did not require transport to a hospital.

The incident occurred shortly after a national aviation ground stop the previous day, which had slowed flight operations. Federal Aviation Administration officials indicated that a contractor error or a faulty router may have contributed to widespread outages at multiple facilities.