Two Qatar Airways aircraft have likely been left damaged as a result of a severe storm in Doha yesterday. CCTV footage shared on Twitter shows a Boeing 787 being pushed into an Airbus A350 by the extreme winds.
Freak storms can cause havoc at airports. After all, with so many flat surfaces designed to make an aircraft aerodynamic, a gust of wind in the wrong direction can give an aircraft a hard shove. According to ATIS information shared on Twitter, yesterday, winds in Doha were gusting up to 61 knots. This led to two Qatar Airways aircraft getting slightly too close for comfort.
Stormy weather
It's safe to say that Qatar didn't have the best weather yesterday. CCTV footage taken at the airport yesterday shows torrential rain accompanied by strong winds. You can see this in a video shared by Air Plus News below:
🇶🇦 Violente tempête à l’aéroport de Doha au Qatar.
Un Boeing 787 a été projeté contre le fuselage d’un Airbus A350 de Qatar Airways lors d’une violente rafale de vent.
Via @breakingavnews
— air plus news (@airplusnews) May 1, 2020
Now, in the video above, you may have noticed something other than the weather. The Boeing 787 that is the focus of the video, gets shoved by the strong winds. Had the aircraft been parked on its own, the effects wouldn't have been so severe.
Except, the Boeing 787 wasn't on its own. It was seemingly parked alongside other aircraft. Thankfully the plane wasn't blown into any airport infrastructure. However, it was blown into something else.
Sat next to the Boeing 787 was another Qatar Airways aircraft; an Airbus A350. The nose of the Boeing 787 was blown right into the fuselage of the Airbus A350, as this subsequent tweet from Air Plus News shows:
🇶🇦 Les deux avions de Qatar Airways étaient au parking, vides.
▫️L’Airbus A350 et le Boeing 787 ont subit de légers dégâts. pic.twitter.com/ahEgzHQfOH
— air plus news (@airplusnews) May 1, 2020
In a statement about the incident posted on Twitter, Qatar Airways said:
What will the damage mean?
Firstly, neither of these aircraft will fly again until any possible damage has been checked out by mechanics. Given the current lack of global demand, losing the two aircraft in the interim likely won't affect the airline's scheduling.
In terms of the Boeing 787, engineers will likely check for any damage that could've been caused by the wind moving the aircraft, in addition to the nose area that was involved in the collision.
It's hard to tell from the photo, but it is possible that the A350 could've received minor cosmetic damage or more significant structural damage. If it is the latter, it doesn't mean that the aircraft isn't salvageable. However, a long period of maintenance would follow. Last year Delta Air Lines fixed one of its Boeing 757 aircraft to an airworthy condition following a hard landing that buckled the fuselage in Ponta Delgada.
What do you make of the Doha collision? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!