As reported by CBS Detroit, an American Airline’s (flight 1231) plane collided with a Southwest Airline’s (flight 9) plane today with passengers onboard. Scary! Both planes were trying to be de-iced when the incident happened. Thankfully, no one was reported injured but, I am sure that the people on board were shaken up in addition to missing their flights, as well as their connections. The passengers were stuck on the planes for upwards of 3 hours according to the article. See all the photos and read more about the collision here.

2 Planes Collide At Detroit Airport

Two airplanes collided at Detroit Metro Airport while headed for de-icing on a bitterly cold morning.

The incident happened around 6 a.m. Wednesday when the wing of an American Airlines plane clipped the tail of a Southwest Airlines jet while on the taxiway. Temperatures were around 25 degrees.

No injuries were reported, but passengers were stuck on the planes for nearly three hours as airport crews assessed the situation. Passengers finally were ushered off the planes just before 9 a.m.

Passenger Bishop reported, “Somebody came over and said there was an accident,” he said. ” And then a stewardess just came by and we asked him what could we do — you know, we’ve been sitting here for an hour and the air is not on, it’s stuffy as it can be in here — and he said ‘Well, this has never happened so we don’t know what to do.’”

 Bottom Line

Both Southwest and American Airlines apologized today for the inconvenience to their passengers. I guess delays and flight cancellations can happen for many reasons, this one seems like kind of a big mistake especially if one of the planes was parked. I know it was cold and icy, but still. What do you think?