DENVER — Two planes struck each other at the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officials said Delta Air Lines Flight 295 was taxiing for departure when its wingtip struck the tail of Endeavor Air Flight 5526.
"These are rare events and passengers shouldn't be worried about the fact that 'man, I'm going to get on an airplane and somebody's going to hit us.' But they do happen," 9NEWS Aviation Expert Greg Feith said.
No one was hurt in the crash, but the impact tore the tail off the smaller aircraft.
"There are a lot of questions to be asked, not only about where the aircraft were but what the flight crews were doing. Were they distracted? Did they know they were in close proximity to one another?" Feith said.
When it comes to how this crash happened, Feith said planes have gotten much larger over the past few decades. With large volumes of daily air traffic and many airports limited in size, Feith said space on those taxiways can fill up fast.
If there's not enough space or if flight crews aren't paying attention, close calls and even collisions can happen.
"It's congestion," Feith said. "And on a heavily trafficked day or period of time, it's a well-choreographed dance that really requires the pilots to have a high level of vigilance when it comes to taxiing in close proximity or trying to get by another aircraft."
Feith said investigators will need to look at the airport layout, taxiways these planes were on and if they had enough room at the time of the crash to determine if this was the result of human error or a design error.
"The board and the FAA will work together to make the determination as to what caused it. But the bigger thing is, how are we going to fix it so it doesn't happen again," Feith said.
While it can be concerning to hear about a crash, Feith said these incidents are investigated carefully so safety improvements can be made.