Planes Collide at Nashville International Airport
NewsChannel5.com | Aug. 14, 2012
Two planes collided at Nashville International Airport Tuesday afternoon, causing a pile-up on a ramp at a private aviation facility.
The crash happened on the ground just before 3:00 p.m. at BNA Airport. Officials said the planes were a Gulf Stream G550 and a Beechcraft King Air. No injuries were reported. No passengers were on board the planes when the collision occurred.
The Gulfstream Aircraft was corporate jet registered to the H. J Heinz Company and owned by Bank of America. Heinz released a statement late Tuesday afternoon explaining that the incident occurred while the plane was being towed by Atlantic Aviation. Officials made clear that there was no flight crew, or Heinz executives aboard the jet at the time of the towing incident. The plane had recently flown members of Heinz senior management team to Nashville.
"Heinz is launching a thorough investigation into the incident and we are cooperating fully with the FAA and officials. Safety is paramount at Heinz and we are taking this matter seriously," they company said in an official release.
The King Air plane was private plane registered to West Air Holdings out of Memphis. The plane was in scheduled to depart Nashville Airport at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday headed to Memphis. West Air Holdings is a real estate investment firm.
This is the second such incident of planes colliding at an International Airport in less than a week. On Friday, a Lufthansa Airbus A330 and a United Express Bombardier Q40 clipped wings while taxing on a runway. No injuries were reported in the crash, but there was some damage to the planes' exteriors.