Vietnam Airlines has reportedly suspended four of its pilots who were involved in an incident in which the wing of a Boeing 787 aircraft sliced into the tail of an Airbus A321 of the same airline at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport (HAN).
The incident, which was captured on video by one of the passengers onboard the B787, took place around 2pm local time on June 27, 2025.
The B787 was taxiing ahead of take-off for Tan Son Nhat International Airport, in Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) when its wing collided with the tail stabilizer of the A321, which was parked on the apron, slicing it, almost entirely, into two pieces.
The A321 was waiting to depart for another domestic destination, Dien Bien (DIN), and some reports appeared on the Vietnamese media have been suggested it may have been positioned incorrectly.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has started an investigation and labelled the incident as level B, the second highest level of seriousness in a five-tier aviation safety scale. The pilots of both aircraft have been suspended from duty while awaiting the results of the investigation.
There were a total of 380 passengers onboard both aircraft, which had to be disembarked and placed on replacement aircraft to continue their journey.
2 comments
So much for a Just Culture.
Were the aircraft positioned where they should have been for the proper taxi clearances?
Of course the PIC is responsible for the knowing where their wingtip is, however its entirely by situational awareness without a spotter. If giving taxi instructions and clearance the PIC might imagine that the path is clear, even if close.
Both should be equally responsible for know being where their plane’s structures are, relative to active taxi and runway surfaces, and ground control should be as well, in giving pilots instructions. Since pilots can’t normally SEE where their wing tips of tails are, they depend on ground folks to help them stay out of each other’s spaces. It’s not just the pilots’ fault here.