Pickup truck strikes Southwest Boeing 737 at Baltimore airport

A Southwest Airlines jet arriving to Baltimore-Washington International Airport was hit by a ground crew’s pickup truck as the plane taxied to a gate after arrival early Monday morning.

This incident came as Southwest faced scrutiny over a mid-air engine explosion last month that killed a passenger. 

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the accident in Baltimore, after a Southwest Airlines jet and a truck collided as the Boeing 737 pulled into a gate at about midnight. 

There were no injuries reported to the 172 passengers aboard, the FAA said. 

Southwest Flight 6263 was pulling into the gate at BWI after flying from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, “when a ground vehicle came into contact with the aircraft,” the airline said.  

“As with any event, we will conduct an internal investigation to learn what happened in the interest of safety. It would be irresponsible to provide details until we’ve had time to thoroughly review the facts,” Southwest spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said.  

Agnew said that the aircraft has been taken out of service, adding that it was too early to provide more details.

The incident first came to light after a passenger on the aircraft tweeted about the incident upon arrival.

“So our @SouthwestAir flight just got in an accident with a pick up truck,” Michael Simon, apparently a passenger on the flight, tweeted after arriving to the airport.

A subsequent photograph posted by Simon, a professional lacrosse player for the Denver Outlaws, appeared to show at least some damage to the ground crew’s truck.