Summary

  • Iberia Airbus A350’s wing was damaged at Pisco airport following a collision with a pole.
  • Hundreds of flights were affected by runway light failure at Lima airport and had to be diverted to surrounding airports.
  • Similar incidents of planes hitting poles at airports have occurred in the past, causing damage.

An Iberia flight from Madrid to Lima, Peru, faced quite a few challenges recently after initially being diverted to another airport and then damaging its wingtip by hitting a pole at the alternative airport. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the incident, and Iberia provided all the assistance to the affected passengers.

Accident following diversion

On June 2, an Iberia Airbus A350 traveling on a scheduled nonstop flight between Madrid and Lima in Peru had to be diverted to Pisco airport in South Peru. This was because of the breakdown of runway lights at Jorge Chávez International Airport, which affected hundreds of other flights.

However, after refueling in Pisco, as the pilot navigated the aircraft at the airport, it hit a pole during a maneuver, damaging its wing. According to reports, the incident took place at around 6 or 7 a.m., but thankfully, no injuries were reported.

One report says that the aircraft was without passengers at the time of the incident as Iberia had made other arrangements to transport them to Lima. Simple Flying has contacted Iberia for a statement and will update the article as and when we receive a response.

Iberia’s flight was one of hundreds that were affected by runway light failure at Lima airport. It started on the night of June 2, and several flights had to be diverted to alternate airports, including in nearby countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador.

About the aircraft and service

The aircraft involved in the incident is an Airbus A350-900 registered EC-OCR. It is not even a year old and was delivered to Iberia in November 2023. It offers a total of 352 seats, with 28 in premium economy, 31 in business class, and 293 in economy. Per ch-aviation, Iberia operates 22 A350s, among other aircraft in its fleet.

Iberia Airbus A350-941 at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague.

Photo: kamilpetran | Shutterstock

The flight was a daily scheduled service between Madrid and Lima, operating as flight IB 6659. It has a departure of 13:30 and an arrival of 18:20. Normally, it takes a little over 11 hours to operate. Per Flightradar24, EC-OCR damaged in Pisco was still there and had not performed any other flight.

Similar incidents

Aircraft colliding with objects at airports is uncommon but not unheard of. Several other airlines have faced similar situations in the past, with their planes damaged during airport collisions.

Last year in July, a Southwest Boeing 737 hit an off-pavement light pole during taxi at Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) in Florida. It was carrying 172 passengers and six crew members at the time of the incident, but thankfully, nobody was injured.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

In 2022, a light pole at Chicago O’Hare Airport sliced through a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 freighter aircraft wing while taxiing. The damage looked pretty intense, and the aircraft had to be grounded for repairs.

In March 2022, a SpiceJet Boeing 737 damaged its wing after it hit a pole at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport during pushback, while in 2021, an American Airlines 737 also hit a pole at Dallas Fort Worth airport, badly damaging its wings.

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