27 Nov: Virgin and EgyptAir clipped wings at KJFK

[kitsaber691]

VS4 and MS986. Virgin aircraft was towed back; EgyptAir returned to gate under its own power.

(Featuring a SPEEDBIRD minibus resigned to a long wait  )

News article: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/2-Planes-Clip-Wings-at-New-Yorks-JFK-Airport-460409713.html

[wiedehopf]

nice edit

if i remember correctly i once heard 777s are not allowed into the kilo pad. in this case it was an A330 in the pad and an 777 passing on kilo not sure if that was even allowed. w/e we will probably hear if it was a controller error or not.

anyway the marking of the kilo pad is seriously lackluster. it should have a centerline offset to the northwest compared to the striped line currently visible on the newer satellite images (https://orthos.dhses.ny.gov/?Extent=-8214608.067092118,4956695.803943427,-8212994.529198297,4957333.5753981285&Layers=2016_cache&baseMap=imagery)

oh and a twitter story relating to the incident with video shot from rescue/port authority.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/935338860149596160

while it looks like in the video that virgin was to the right of the striped line with the main gear and left engine i still suspect with a proper centerline closer to the northwest shoulder it would be easier for pilots to position the aircraft.
if you look at the third picture in the twitter story it looks like virgin had plenty of room to the right side.

oh and the flightradar24 replay, not that it's too interesting:
https://www.flightradar24.com/2017-11-27/23:47/12x/40.63,-73.78/15

[VASAviation]

I'd like to thank kitsaber691 for her time and her great audio clip as well as the LiveATC feeders for their cooperation to this community.

I link my new video about this event for those who are not familiarized with JFK.

I kinda agree with this

if i remember correctly i once heard 777s are not allowed into the kilo pad. in this case it was an A330 in the pad and an 777 passing on kilo not sure if that was even allowed. w/e we will probably hear if it was a controller error or not.

Even though I hate blaming anyone - yet more without knowing the exact situation, I doubt both A330 and B777 can pass aside each other on that pad.

Glad the only damage is just a few pieces of wing and nobody was injured 

[wiedehopf]

So let's check how wide the kilo-pad is:
See the attached picture made on the NYC GIS system allowing you to measure aerial photographs.
From Kilo centerline to the edge of the pad it is 288 ft.
The width of the kilo taxiway north of the pad is 80 ft.
So assuming there was a line 40ft from the edge of the kilo pad and the waiting aircraft is aligned with it, the centerlines of the two "taxiways" are 248 ft apart.

248 ft from centerline to centerline that means two airplanes with a wingspan of 248 ft can theoretically pass each other.
For comparison the centerlines of Alpha and Bravo are around 285 ft apart.

B777 wingspan: 212 ft
A330 wingspan: 198 ft
so for them to pass the centerlines need to be around 205 ft apart.

That means Virgin Atlantic wasted around 40 ft assuming Egyptair was on the centerline.
I'm quite sure had there be a centerline for Virgin to line up on there would have been no collision.