The FAA reports that Egypt Air Flight 986, a Boeing 777 on its way to Cairo, was moving on a taxiway when its right wing touched the left wing of Virgin Atlantic Airlines Flight 4, an Airbus A333 headed to London.
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It happened around 7:45 p.m.
The Egypt Air plane returned to the terminal area unassisted.
Virgin Atlantic plane had to be towed.
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The FAA plans to investigate.
It appears from the air control recording that the Virgin Atlantic pilot told the tower that he had a problem that he needed to work out before he could take off, so he pulled off to the side, but apparently not far enough.
VS4: "Uh Virgin 4-Charlie, we've got a technical issue at the moment...we're going to have to do some diagnosing."
Tower: "Virgin 4-Charlie-heavy, all right, disregard all that, pull off to the right, all the way to the right as far as you can on the run-up pad."
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VS4: "Ground Virgin, uh 4-Charlie I think he just clipped our wing."
VS4: "We can confirm he has hit the left hand wing for the Virgin."
Tower: "All right hold position Virgin, 4-Charlie."
Only two minutes had elapsed from the time the Virgin plane pulled over and the Egypt Air plane attempted to pass it and clipped its wing.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
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