All it took was an amateur video enthusiast to capture one of the more shocking travel-related mishaps in recent times. An eyewitness managed to record the moment that a jumbo jet operated by Air France managed to clip the tail fin of a commuter jet at New York’s JFK Airport, sending the smaller plane into a 90-degree spin.

Eyewitnesses at the facility noted there to be a substantial amount of damage inflicted on the wings of the Airbus A380, forcing it to be taken into a hangar for inspection. Meanwhile, the small Comair CRJ-700 operated by Canadair was also taken in for review. While things would almost certainly have been different if both were in the air, no passengers were injured in the incident, though many felt the impact.

Communication from JFK airport ground control suggested that the A380 was given the all clear to take the route it did and had been instructed to go to the runway, turning left onto a taxiway to wait. Despite the A380 giving way to another plane that was moving in the opposite direction, it was barely a minute later when pilots of the Comair informed traffic controllers that they would need a truck to help them in their predicament.

Since the incident, representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board have asked for the flight-data recorders and will be reviewing air-traffic control tapes to see who is to hold to account for the accident.