EVA Airways Flight 661
Boeing 747 45EF and American Airlines Embraer EMB 135KL · Accident: ground collision while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA12CA082
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Aircraft 1 · Boeing 747 45EF
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 747
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- B16481
- Operator
- EVA Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, ILTo Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), Anchorage, AK
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 129: Foreign
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi · to runway
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Ground collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Embraer EMB 135KL
- Aircraft type
- Embraer EMB-135
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N834AE
- Operator
- American Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Springfield Branson National Airport (SGF), Springfield, MOTo Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, IL
- Aircraft age
- About 10 years (built 2002)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 121: Air Carrier
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Standing · engine(s) operating
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Ground collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
On May 30, 2012, at about 1300 central daylight time, American Eagle Airlines flight 4265, an Embraer EMB-135, N834AE, was holding in the ramp area when it was struck by EVA Air flight 661, a Boeing 747-400, registration B16481, while the 747 was taxiing at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois. The EMB-135 received substantial damage to its rudder and vertical stabilizer and the 747 received minor damage to its wingtip and slat. There were no injuries to any of the passengers or crew on either airplane. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
The EMB-135 was holding in the ramp area with its tail protruding into taxiway (TWY) A while awaiting ground personnel to marshal them into gate G20. The 747 was initially parked at cargo bay SC6 and was instructed to taxi to runway 32L for departure. After crossing runway 28 and taxiing along TWY A, the 747 flight crew stated they saw the EMB-135 stopped short of gate G20. As the 747 approached the EMB-135, the captain stated that he knew it would be close and asked the other two flight crew members to help ensure there was enough wing tip clearance. Both of these crew members stated that there should be enough clearance based on their perspective in the cockpit. As the 747 taxied past the EMB-135, the leading edge slat of the B747 struck the vertical stabilizer of the EMB-135.
Probable cause
the 747 flight crew's failure to maintain a safe clearance with the EMB-135 that was stopped on a taxiway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA12CA082
- Event ID
- 20120530X64155
- Case number
- DCA12CA082
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 09f0a699790dd8641885f4599c5bb0c694b78a10ddbe15caa45346373d30db47; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:21:26.305Z.