The plane of former US president Donald Trump takes off from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 3, 2023.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
The wing of the Boeing jet used by former President Donald Trump struck a parked plane at a Florida airport after landing safely and taxiing early Sunday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday.
It is not known if Trump, who had held a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday, was on his Boeing 757 when its winglet struck the rear elevator of a parked VistaJet in West Palm Beach.
No injuries were reported in the collision.
The FAA notice about the incident, which occurred at 1:19 a.m. ET on Sunday, gives the tail number of Trump’s aircraft, N757AF.
In a statement, the FAA said, “A privately owned Boeing 757 landed safely at West Palm Beach International Airport around 1:20 a.m. local time on Sunday, May 12.”
“While taxiing, its winglet contacted a parked and unoccupied corporate jet,” the FAA said. “The incident occurred in an area of the airport where the FAA does not direct aircraft. The FAA is investigating.”
A winglet is a short fin that projects upward from the wing of an aircraft. They are used to reduce aerodynamic drag.
CNBC has requested comment from a spokesman from Trump’s presidential campaign about the incident.
Trump maintains a residence at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee, is on trial in New York state court on criminal hush money charges. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, where he is charged with falsifying business records.
On Tuesday, Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche began cross-examining Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who is a key witness in the case
Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in late 2016 to buy her silence about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump a decade earlier. Cohen has testified he did so at Trump’s direction to prevent Daniels from going public with her story, and damaging Trump’s presidential campaign that year.
Trump has both denied having had sex with Daniels and in taking any part in the payoff. He has claimed the case is politically motivated to harm his electoral chances.
Source Agencies
