There was nobody on the airplane.
In a very unusual incident, an aircraft was pushed away by powerful winds from the gate at Dallas Fort Worth Airport in the United States. Shocking footage reveals that the American Airlines Boeing 737-800, which weighed around 90,000 pounds, had its nose pushed around the tarmac when the loading bridge was disconnected.
According to American Airlines, the aircraft was one of “several” that were impacted by the gusts of 80 mph, causing the airport to ground up to 700 planes. There was nobody on the airplane and according to the airline representative, maintenance personnel are “currently conducting thorough inspections and will make any needed repairs.”
The now-viral video has amassed a lot of reactions from social media users.
American Airlines 737-800 pushed away from its gate at DFW Airport during severe weather Tuesday morning. pic.twitter.com/ZoccA1mw7A
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 28, 2024
“Looks like strong winds captured by the tail fin of this @AmericanAir acted like a sail to push the plane away from the gate. Unknown if there was something missing to prevent the wheels from moving,” said a user.
“*Boeing execs, nervously*: Yeah, it was the weather. Not the plane. Definitely not the plane,” wrote another person.
A third said, “Yoh! Despite these scary aviation stories, we keep flying, what can we do?”
“This is insane,” said a user.
“Wow. That storm really was something else,” remarked a person.
Another said, “Wow. It was windy in the Dallas area today, but I didn’t realize it was this level crazy.”
Notably, the roof of a large commercial warehouse close to the airport was crushed by the same high winds. As strong winds hit Texas and its neighbouring states on Tuesday morning, almost 90 per cent of departures from D-FW airport were delayed or cancelled.
At least one person was killed and more than 600,000 people in Texas were left without power as severe storms brought another wave of extreme weather to a state still recovering from damaging and deadly storms in recent weeks.