Shuttle Bus Collides With American Airlines Jet At LAX, Four People Hospitalized

Shuttle Bus Collides With American Airlines Jet At LAX, Four People Hospitalized

by Gary Leff on February 11, 2023

An American Airlines Airbus A321 without passengers on board collided with a shuttle bus in Los Angeles on Friday evening. The plane was being pulled by a tug to park in a remote location, and the shuttle was carrying passengers between the American terminal and the remote ‘Eagles Nest’ building for regional flights.

The fire department treated five people at the scene. Four people were hospitalized. Two were passengers, the bus driver was taken to the hospital as well, as was the tug driver. Two are in moderate condition but it’s not believed that anyone’s injuries are life-threatening.

#BREAKING: An American Airlines plane collided with a shuttle bus at #LAX tonight while being towed on a taxiway. The plane was empty of passengers when the collision occurred. Reports of up to 5 people being treated at the scene. #Sky5 is overhead. @KTLA pic.twitter.com/365Ds4NjUA

— Sam Bader (@SamBaderNews) February 11, 2023

BREAKING! A passenger bus collided with a plane at the Los Angeles International Airport Friday night.

A passenger bus made contact with an American Airlines plane on a taxiway on the South Complex, according to officials with LAX. There are possibly two injured people as a… https://t.co/S6CcsKcyJX pic.twitter.com/28jHqqf0mf

— 💫Queen of Seventeen 1️⃣7️⃣✝️❤️🇺🇲🥃 (@AreYouAwaQe) February 11, 2023

Here’s air traffic control audio from the incident.

Since planes are generally given priority, and buses are supposed to stop, the bus driver was presumably at fault here. However it’s not clear what sort of miscommunication happened yet.

Hopefully everyone recovers quickly, and the cause of the incident can be clearly uncovered and addressed to improve safety on the ramp.

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