Delta pilot didn’t recall instructions before NYC airport ground collision, NTSB report says

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NEW YORK (AP) — The captain of one of the Delta Air Lines regional jets that collided at the intersection of two taxiways at LaGuardia Airport in New York last month told investigators he did not recall hearing instructions to give way to the other plane, according to a preliminary report Thursday from the National Transportation Safety Board.

An aircraft carrying 32 people was preparing for takeoff to Roanoke, Virginia, on the night of Oct. 1 when its wing smashed into the front of an aircraft taxiing after arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina, with 61 people aboard. The low-speed collision injured a flight attendant, gouged the nose of one plane and shattered its cockpit window and damaged the wing of the other aircraft.

The investigation is continuing and the NTSB report does not cite a cause for the collision between flights 5155 and 5047.

The preliminary report notes that the ground controller instructed the outbound flight 5155 to “give way” to another plane on the ground. The flight crew read back the instructions, but the pilot told investigators he didn’t the recall hearing the instruction to yield. He said he was focused on calculating performance numbers for the landing, according to the report.

The plane started to taxi.

“The captain recalled he was looking down into the cockpit to visually verify the airplane trim setting as part of the checklist, and when he looked up he saw flight 5047 to the right,” according to the report.

The captain of flight 5155 said he tried to veer left to avoid the other aircraft, and the captain of flight 5047 said he applied brakes immediately before the collision.

Delta declined to comment on the preliminary report other than to say they’re fully cooperating with the investigation.