Winds cause plane collision at airport

Winds over 60 miles an hour caused a collision between a Big Horn Airways plane and a customer plane on the ramp at the Sheridan County Airport Thursday.

Penny Rader, who’s director of fixed-base operator services for Big Horn, said the incident happened just before 4:30 p.m. in about two minutes time frame when the wind shoved the two planes together. She said so far as she knows, nothing like this has ever happened before.

Rader said no one was around or in the planes at the time, so there were no injuries. She said there was definitely damage to the planes, and that’s under investigation at this time, so she was unable to discuss that.

She said at the time of the incident, the weather forecast was calling for winds from 18 to 36 miles per hour. She said the other unusual factor in Thursday’s wind was the suddenness of it, with no buildup.

In addition to the speed of the wind, she said, the wind came from the right direction – the northwest – so it plowed right into the hangars at the airport. She said no other planes were involved in the incident.