A Boeing 737-900ER
operated by 
United Airlines
was grounded at Miami International Airport
(MIA) after a rather scenic incident Thursday morning. The plane, while reportedly being towed into its gate, “made contact” with a catering truck.
The force of the impact caused the truck to topple over, and the scene was witnessed by ground workers and a passenger onboard a different United flight. The aircraft was scheduled to operate to Newark Liberty International Airport
(EWR), but an unfortunate turn of events led to the flight being canceled.
No passengers onboard
Natanael Gomez, a member of the RAMP LIFE !! public Facebook group shared a photo of the incident with Simple Flying. The picture depicts a large catering truck tipped over on its side, sitting next to the 737-900ER, registered as N68453.
Photo: Natanael Gomez
It is unclear which company the truck belonged to or if there were any injuries among those operating the vehicle. In a statement late Thursday, a United spokesperson confirmed that no passengers were onboard the aircraft at the time of the incident.
“On Thursday morning, a United aircraft made contact with a catering vendor vehicle while being towed to a gate at Miami International Airport. The aircraft was not carrying any passengers and is undergoing a thorough inspection by our maintenance team.”
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Some suggest the driver of the vehicle may have been fired on the spot.
The scene was also viewed by passengers on a different United flight that had arrived from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), according to Kate Vansiempsen’s post on RAMP LIFE !!, which shared an original post from the People at Airports and on Airplanes private Facebook group.
“My son flew UA 1359 ORD MIA this morning,” one member of the page said, along with pictures of the toppled truck. “As they pulled up into gate this was next to them. Can you say oops lol.”
Maintenance issues beforehand?
According to FlightAware, N68453 arrived in Miami on Wednesday, inbound from Newark as UA2295. The aircraft landed on runway 12 at 14:09, and taxied to gate H14, where it arrived at 14:13. Given that Miami is not a hub for United, it is unusual for its aircraft to spend multiple hours on the ground unless it is overnight or for maintenance, as United does have a facility at the airport. Nonetheless, most daytime flights are typically a turn, meaning they return to their respective origin or fly to another hub about an hour after landing.
Photo: Wangkun Jia | Shutterstock
As such, N68453 may have initially suffered from a maintenance issue. Based on an analysis of the flight data, the aircraft was likely to operate to Denver as UA2644, which had a scheduled departure time of 15:46. However, the flight was delayed by more than two hours, and did not depart until 18:25 from gate H15. It appears that United reshuffled its schedule and deployed a different 737-900ER in place of N68453 to operate the flight, although the exact reasons remain unclear. N75429 – which arrived from Denver as UA1418 at 16:37 – was the aircraft that operated UA2644 back to Denver, arriving two hours and 14 minutes late.
This caused a ripple effect, as N75429 was originally due to operate as UA1386 to Newark – based on flight data from the previous day. The flight had a scheduled departure time on Wednesday at 17:25, but since the aircraft was reassigned to travel back to Denver, United seemingly assigned N68453 to operate it instead. However, data shows the flight was significantly delayed by 18 hours to 11:30 on Thursday.
Returning to service
Since United said the incident occurred as the aircraft was being towed, and there were no passengers onboard, the plane was likely transported to a facility between the time it arrived as UA2295 and Thursday morning. Interestingly, the aircraft was brought right back to gate H14 to operate back to Newark as UA1836. However, it was canceled after the catering truck collision. Simple Flying contacted Miami International Airport for comment, but representatives could not be immediately reached.
Photo: The Global Guy
N68453 is a 12-year-old 737-900ER, according to Planespotters.net. The extent of any possible damage sustained from the incident appears to be minor or repaired already, as United, late Thursday night, assigned the aircraft to return to service as UA3875 to Denver on Friday morning.
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