Southwest Airlines Plane Hit by Truck at Airport

Southwest Airlines Plane Hit by Truck at Airport
A Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a truck at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17, 2019. Courtesy of Teresa Varley
Zachary Stieber
Updated:

A Southwest Airlines plane was hit on the tarmac at the Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17 by a Southwest truck.

People stood near the truck after it slammed into the left side of the plane, near the back end.

“Sitting on our plane and this truck hit us just as we were getting ready to pull out. Shocking and scary. Praying the person is okay,” said Teresa Varley, a passenger who snapped pictures of the scene.

“Just crazy,” she later added.

A Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a truck at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17, 2019. (Courtesy of Teresa Varley)
A Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a truck at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17, 2019. Courtesy of Teresa Varley
A Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a truck at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17, 2019. (Courtesy of Teresa Varley)
A Southwest Airlines plane was hit by a truck at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 17, 2019. Courtesy of Teresa Varley

Southwest responded to Varley on Twitter: “We are very sadden[ed] to see this and appreciate you bringing this to our attention.”

Varley later praised Southwest employees, saying the staff “have been amazing today.”

The flight was originally slated to fly to Denver, Colorado, with a connection to Seattle, Washington. Varley was headed to Seattle.

“The pilot just told the flight crew to prepare the cabin for takeoff. 2 seconds later you heard the crash and the plane shook back and forth. People yelled out loud it was so startling. The crew was amazing. Kept everyone calm,” Varley wrote of the experience.

At approximately 1 p.m. EST, about an hour after the incident, Varley said passengers had been boarded on another plane.

She shared another picture, noting that the plane was situated right next to the one that had been hit.

“Thank you Southwest for getting us on another flight,” she wrote on Twitter.

Passengers were placed on another plane about an hour of being taken off of a plane after a truck ran into it. (Courtesy of Teresa Varley)
Passengers were placed on another plane about an hour of being taken off of a plane after a truck ran into it. Courtesy of Teresa Varley
Southwest addressed the incident in a full statement to KDKA: “A Southwest Airlines provisioning truck made contact with an aircraft parked at gate A1 at Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday morning. Our immediate concern is for the well-being of our Ramp Agent who was driving the vehicle.”

“The aircraft at the gate was a Boeing 737 -800 that was scheduled to operate Flight #157 to Denver with 174 Customers onboard and a Crew of six. At this early stage, we do not have any reports of injuries to those onboard the aircraft. The aircraft will be taken out of service, and we are working to accommodate our Customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” it added.

Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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