RDU taxiway collision briefly shuts down airfield Wednesday afternoon
A box truck and a corporate jet collided on Taxiway C, closing RDU's airfield briefly and delaying about 15 flights.
A collision between a general aviation aircraft and a box truck shut down Raleigh-Durham International Airport’s airfield for a short time Wednesday afternoon, briefly disrupting operations at one of Wake County’s busiest travel hubs. The crash happened on Taxiway C and forced airport officials to clear the area before reopening the airfield and restoring normal arrivals and departures.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, an Embraer Phenom 100, hit a vehicle on the taxiway at about 1:45 p.m. local time. The agency said the truck was crossing the taxiway on a service road that is not controlled by air traffic controllers. The FAA said it will investigate the incident, and the National Transportation Safety Board also is investigating.
RDU said there were no injuries to the truck driver or the two people aboard the plane. ABC11 reported the aircraft sustained significant damage to the nose area. The airport reopened around 2:30 p.m., according to WRAL, and was operating normally for arriving and departing flights soon after.
Even a brief closure at RDU can ripple quickly through the regional travel network. WRAL reported about 15 flights were diverted or delayed, and travelers posted about the disruption online around 2 p.m. as crews worked through the shutdown. At an airport that depends on tightly timed movements among aircraft, baggage handlers, ramp crews and service vehicles, a collision on a taxiway triggers immediate safety checks and a cautious restart.
The timing added another layer of pressure in a summer travel period when RDU is handling heavy passenger traffic. The airport projected serving 15.5 million passengers in 2025, and more than 220,000 passengers passed through security on May 10 and May 11, 2026, two of the busiest days in airport history. That kind of volume means even a short pause on the airfield can affect schedules, ground operations and business travelers moving through the Research Triangle region.
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