‘Somebody hit us’: Pilot’s words as cargo plane rams into passenger jet at Miami airport

A UPS cargo plane and a Copa Airlines passenger jet collided while moving on a runway at Miami International Airport in the United States on Saturday, just as the country navigates the fallout from the cancellations and delays caused by the previous day's nationwide ground stop. The cargo plane collided with a Copa Airlines flight arriving from Panama City as the two were manoeuvring at the intersection of two taxiways at 9:15 pm local time, according to media reports.
In the ATC recording, the pilot of the Copa Airlines flight is heard alerting ATC about the incident. He declares on the flight radio, “Somebody hit us,” moments after its wing clipped the nose of the cargo plane, a Colombia-bound UPS Flight 358. “UPS 358, did you hit that aircraft?” the controller asked the pilot of the cargo plane, according to audio from ATC. The cargo plane pilot confessed, saying, “Yeah, we went too far, and he clipped us with his wing.” Though the incident left two injured, Greg Chin, communications director for Miami International Airport, said there is no impact to airport operations at this time. “Flights are being directed to other taxiways,” he added. The two patients were treated on the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for minor injuries and did not require medical transport. However, it is not yet clear if the incident had anything to do with the aftermath of Friday’s flight cancellations. “We were taxiing after landing at a normal speed when, all of a sudden, I heard the chatter around me getting louder, followed by a collective scream and then the impact of another aircraft hitting ours,” Copa passenger Cesar Ferreira told CNN. The ATC had reportedly allowed the UPS crew to give way to the Copa flight, but it is not yet clear how the accident happened. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the collision. UPS said it is “committed to working with authorities to determine what happened” and noted its crew was safe.