Jet Makes U-Turn at Boeing Field, Impales Fuel Tanker

SEATTLE, Wash. --

Scary moments when a jet taxiing on a Seattle runway crashed into a fuel tanker.

And the fuel tanker’s driver inside the cab had to be rescued.

It happened at Seattle's Boeing Field, just before seven o’clock Thursday night.

The airplane wing is inside the cab of a fuel tanker.

A business jet with five passengers on board was taxiing on the runway at Boeing Field.

According to an eyewitness, the pilot missed a turn on the taxiway and tried to make a U-Turn. But about a hundred yards behind him was a fuel tanker truck.

Ian Maddox says, “so when the jet came around the fuel tank on the end of its wing, struck right in the front of the cab. The driver at the very last second tried to back out of the way.”

But the driver didn't make it. Instead the wing impaled the cab -- on the driver's side. Ian Maddox, who is a pilot himself, ran over to help.

“He ducked out of the way, just in time. It would have creamed him if he hadn’t ducked. He was moving and he seemed ok, “says Maddox.

But he was trapped inside the cab. Four fire departments responded to Boeing Field to try to extricate him.

Bryan Field of the King County Fire Department at Boeing Field says, “we had to cut the cab of the truck apart in order to gain access to the driver.”

The fixed wing turbo jet is owned by Jetstar based in Beverly Hills, California.

It left Van Nuys, California earlier today, flew to Vancouver, B.C., and then here to Boeing Field. The entire episode a surprise to nearly everyone who saw it.

Maddox says, “I didn’t expect the plane to be pulling a full U-turn. He adds, “and apparently, the fuel truck didn’t either.”

Haz mat crews put foam on the runway as a precaution since a fuel tanker is involved. But no fuel spilled.

As for the driver, he left here with injuries that are not life threatening.

The investigation now in the hands of the Federal Aviation Administration.

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