Spirit Airlines blames ground accident on ATC

Spirit Airlines is blaming a collision between an A320 of its own and a US Airways A320 parked on a remote ramp in Ft. Lauderdale on New Year’s Eve.  Spirit says its pilots weren’t warned of the aircraft being parked there.

I have a somewhat grudging admiration for how Spirit manages its PR in these situations.  They are the teenage kid who says outrageous things and denies responsibility for problems it does cause.

But let’s take note of a few facts.  First, ATC isn’t responsible for warning taxiing aircraft of properly parked aircraft on ramps.

Second, pilots and most specifically the captain, are responsible for watching where they are taxiing their aircraft.   In this case, the Spirit aircraft didn’t back into the aircraft, it struck the tail of the US Airways aircraft as it was passing by.  It’s true that care has to be exercised when taxiing on ramps but it is the responsibility of the taxiing aircraft to pay attention to its surroundings.

Third, LiveATC.net has captured audio of another Spirit aircraft warning of tight quarters just before the collision.

Look, it’s an accident and it probably isn’t one bit funny to US Airways whose aircraft suffered significant damage.  But these things do happen and this one probably didn’t happen because the Spirit captain wasn’t paying attention.  It isn’t easy to taxi these aircraft and there is a reason why the captain is made responsible for this duty.

Blaming it on air traffic control is just silly, however.

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