London-bound Virgin Atlantic flight clips fence with wing at JFK

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Saturday, September 19, 2015
Plane clips fence while being pulled by tug at JFK Airport
AJ Ross has the latest details from JFK.

QUEENS -- A London-bound plane about to take off from Kennedy Airport was moved after its wing hit a fence.

VIDEO FROM SCENE (credit @hschleckr):

Authorities say the incident happened at 8:30 a.m. Saturday as Virgin Atlantic Flight 26 was being pushed back from the gate by a tug. There were 277 passengers and 14 crew members.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says there were no injuries and the plane has been moved to a remote area of the airport. Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman says the 276 people on board are being bused back to the terminal.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson released a statement saying the plane clipped the fence due to a "miscalculation."

"The VS26 departing from JFK to London Heathrow today returned to the gate after a miscalculation by the tug caused minor damage to one of its wing tips. All customers have disembarked the aircraft and our teams are working hard to get our customers on their way as soon as possible. Safety is our number one priority and we would like to apologize for the delay and any inconvenience caused," the statement said.

Flight 26 was an Airbus A340-600 scheduled to depart for London at 8:15 a.m.

Since the incident, operations have resumed back to normal at JFK.