Obama's aircraft clips parked plane
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating how a plane carrying presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama clipped another aircraft after landing at Midway Airport Saturday.
No one was injured in the incident, which comes in the wake of numerous concerns about close calls involving airplanes in the Chicago region.
Obama's corporate jet, a Gulfstream II, was taxiing at 2:30 a.m. when its left wing hit the right wing of a parked, unoccupied Cessna 208, a single-engine plane.
The Chicago Democrat and campaign staff members were traveling home after attending a rally and town hall meeting Friday in Las Vegas. Nevada holds its caucuses Jan. 19.
The impact was minimal and went unnoticed by passengers on board, Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. The plane was chartered for the Las Vegas trip and the incident will not affect future travel plans, he added.
The Gulfstream was being guided by the pilot and was no longer under the direction of air traffic controllers when it bumped the Cessna, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane is owned by Long Charter Air, located in Georgia.
A report by the NTSB on the accident is expected to take several weeks to finish.
In recent months, the FAA and air traffic controllers union have clashed over unresolved contract issues involving hours of work and pay.
Union leaders last week declared a state of emergency at O'Hare International Airport plus airports in New York City, Atlanta and Los Angeles. They contend that the loss of veteran controllers due to job dissatisfaction is contributing to rising runway incursions and dangerous incidents in the air.
The FAA calls the claims exaggerated but the U.S. Department of Transportation is sending its inspector general to conduct an audit of air-traffic control operations at O'Hare and two facilities in Elgin and Aurora because of recent errors.
One of those occurred Dec. 18 when two jets came within 200 vertical feet of each other over the South Loop. Safety standards require a separation of 1,000 feet at a minimum.