Mid-air collision

See also: Aerial ramming

A mid-air collision is an aviation accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and the likelihood of subsequent impact with the ground or sea, very severe damage or the total destruction of at least one of the aircraft involved usually results.

The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by miscommunication, mistrust, error in navigation, deviations from flight plans, and the lack of collision-avoidance systems. Although a rare occurrence in general due to the vastness of open space available, collisions often happen near or at airports, where large volumes of aircraft are spaced more closely than in general flight.

First recorded mid air collision

Contemporary artist's impression of the first mid-air collision, 1910

The first recorded collision between aircraft occurred at the "Milano Circuito Aereo Internazionale" meeting held between 24 September and 3 October 1910 in Milan, Italy. On 3 October, Frenchman René Thomas, flying an Antoinette IV monoplane, collided with British Army Captain Bertram Dickson by ramming his Farman III biplane in the rear.[1] Both pilots survived, but Dickson was so badly injured that he never flew again.[2][3][4]

The first fatal collision occurred in Douai, France, on 19 June 1912. Captain Marcel Dubois and Lieutenant Albert Peignan, both of the French Army, crashed into one another, killing both pilots.

Efforts to prevent military/civilian collisions in the United States

There are many types and causes of mid-air collisions. On some occasions, military aircraft conducting training flights inadvertently collide with civilian aircraft. Before 1958, civilian air traffic controllers guiding civilian flights and military controllers guiding military aircraft were both unaware of the other's aircraft.

The 1958 collision between United Airlines Flight 736 and a fighter jet, as well as another U.S. military/civilian crash one month later involving Capital Airlines Flight 300, hastened the signing of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 into law. The act created the Federal Aviation Agency (later renamed the Federal Aviation Administration), and provided unified control of airspace for both civil and military flights.

In 2005, as part of an effort to reduce such military/civilian mid-air collisions in U.S. airspace, the Air National Guard Flight Safety Division, led by Lt Col Edward Vaughan, used the Disruptive Solutions Process to create the See and Avoid web portal. In late 2006, the U.S. Defense Safety Oversight Council (DSOC) recognized and funded the site as its official civil/military midair collision prevention website, with participation by all the services.

List of notable civilian and military-civilian mid-air collisions

Date Fatalities[N 1] Survivors[N 2] Flights involved Phase of flight Site
1922 Apr 7 7 0 CGEA Farman F.60 / Daimler Hire Ltd. de Havilland DH.18A 492 ft. Picardy, France
1929 Apr 21 6 0 Maddux Airlines (Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor) / U.S.Army Air Force (B-PW-9D) 2.000 ft. San Diego California, U.S.
1935 May 18 45 0 Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky / VVS Polikarpov I-5 Cruise Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1938 Aug 24 58 Japanese Flying School (Hanriot HD-1) and Japan Airlines Transportation (Fokker Super Universal) ? Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan
1942 Oct 23 12 2 American Airlines Flight 28 / US Army B-34 flight Ascent/descent (9000 ft.) Chino Canyon, California, U.S.
1945 Jul 12 3 20 Eastern Airlines Flight 45 / U.S. Army Air Force A-26 Invader Descent Florence, South Carolina, U.S.
1948 April 5 15 0 British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking / Soviet Air Force flight Approach RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany.
1948 Jul 4 39 0 Scandinavian Airlines System DC-6 / RAF Avro York Descent Northwood, London, UK
1949 Feb 19 14 0 BEA Douglas Dakota / RAF Avro Anson Cruise Exhall, U.K.
1949 Nov 1 55 1 Eastern Air Lines 537 / Lockheed P-38 test flight Approach Washington, D.C., U.S.
1951 Apr 25 43 0 Cubana de Aviación 493 / US Navy flight Cruise/climb Key West, Florida, U.S.
1952 Jun 28 2 60 American Airlines Flight 910 / private Temco Swift Approach Dallas, Texas, U.S.
1954 Apr 8 37 0 Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 9 / RCAF Harvard ? Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Canada
1955 Jan 12 15 0 TWA flight / Private flight Climb Boone County, Kentucky, U.S.
1956 Jun 30 128 0 UA Flight 718 / TWA Flight 2 Cruise Grand Canyon, Arizona, U.S.
1958 Apr 21 49 0 United Airlines Flight 736 / USAF F-100 Super Sabre Cruise Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
1958 May 20 13 1 Capital Airlines Flight 300 / Air National Guard flight Descent Brunswick, Maryland, U.S.
1958 May 20 31 1 British European Airways Flight 142 / Italian Air Force F-86 Sabre flight Descent Near Anzio, Italy
1960 Feb 25 61 3 Real Transportes Aéreos DC-3 / U.S. Navy R6D flight Descent Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1960 Dec 16 134 0 UA Flight 826 / TWA Flight 266 Descent New York City, New York, U.S.
1963 Feb 1 104 0 MEA Flight 265 / Turkish Air Force flight Descent Ankara, Turkey
1965 Dec 4 4 108 TWA Flight 42 / Eastern Airlines Flight 853 Descent Carmel, New York, U.S.
1967 Mar 9 26 0 TWA Flight 553 / Private flight Descent Urbana, Ohio, U.S.
1967 Jul 19 82 0 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 / Lanseair Inc. flight Climb/descent Hendersonville, North Carolina, U.S.
1969 Sep 9 82 0 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 / Private flight Descent Fairland, Indiana, U.S.
1971 Jun 6 50 1 Hughes Airwest Flight 706 / US Marines flight Climb San Gabriel Mountains, California, U.S.
1971 Jul 30 162 1 ANA Flight 58 / JASDF flight Cruise near Shizukuishi, Japan
1973 Mar 5 68 108 Iberia Douglas DC-9  / Spantax Convair 990[5] Cruise near Nantes, France
1974 Aug 9 3 0 RAF Phantom FGR2 / Piper Pawnee crop duster Low level Fordham Fen, Norfolk, England, UK
1975 Jan 9 14 0 Golden West Airlines Flight 261 / Private flight Climb near Whittier, California, U.S.
1976 Sep 9 64 0 Aeroflot Flight 31 / Aeroflot Flight 7957 Cruise near Anapa, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1976 Sep 10 176 0 BA Flight 476 / Inex-Adria Flight 550 Cruise near Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
1978 Sep 25 144 0 PSA Flight 182 / Private flight Descent San Diego, California, U.S.
1979 Aug 11 178 0 Aeroflot 65816 / Aeroflot 65735 Cruise Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
1981 Aug 24 37 1 Aeroflot Flight 811 / Soviet Air Force Tupolev Tu-16K Cruise Zavitinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1985 May 3 94 0 Aeroflot Flight SSSR-65856  / Soviet Air Force Antonov An-26 Descent Zolochev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
1986 Jun 18 25 0 Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6  / Private helicopter flight Low level Grand Canyon, U.S
1986 Aug 31 82 0 Aeroméxico Flight 498 / Private flight Descent/climb Cerritos, California, U.S.
1987 Jan 15 10 0 SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834 / Private flight Approach Kearns, Utah, U.S.
1990 Apr 9 2 7 ASA Flight 2254 / Private flight Climb/descent Gadsden, Alabama, U.S.
1992 Dec 22 157 2 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 / Libyan Air Force MiG-23 Flight Approach Tripoli, Libya
1993 Feb 8 133 0 Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154M / Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 Climb/approach Tehran, Iran
1993 Nov 26 4 0 NZ Police Eagle / NZ Police traffic patrol Low level Auckland, New Zealand
1996 Nov 12 349 0 Saudia Flight 763 / Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Climb/descent Charkhi Dadri, India
1997 Jun 25 0 3 Mir  / Progress M-34 Orbit Outer space
1998 Jul 30 15 0 Proteus Airlines Flight 706 / Private flight Low level Quiberon Bay, France
2000 Feb 8 3 0 Zlin 242L / Cessna 172 Descent Zion, Illinois, U.S.
2002 Jul 1 71 0 Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 / DHL Flight 611 Cruise Überlingen, Germany
2006 Sep 29 154 7[6] Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 / ExcelAire flight Cruise Amazon rainforest, Brazil
2007 Mar 5 8 0 Aérospatiale SA 332 Super Puma / private Diamond DV20 Katana Low level Zell am See Airport, Austria
2007 Jul 27 4 0 KNXV-TV news helicopter / KTVK news helicopter Low level Phoenix, Arizona
2007 Sep 1 2 0 Two Zlin Z-526Fs of the AZL Żelazny Aerobatic display Near Radom, Poland
2009 Feb 10 0 0 Kosmos-2251 / Iridium 33 Orbit Outer space
2009 Aug 8 9 0 Piper PA-32 / Eurocopter AS350 tour helicopter Low level Hudson River, New York, U.S.
2012 Sep 20 3200 Syrian Arab Airlines Flight RB-501 / Syrian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter Climb Damascus, Syria
2015 Mar 9 100 Villa Castelli helicopter collision / Eurocopter AS350 Climb La Rioja Province, Argentina
2015 Sep 5 7? Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines Flight 71 / Senegalair plane Cruise Eastern Senegal

List of notable military mid-air collisions

XB-70 62-0207 following the mid-air collision on 8 June 1966.
Date Fatalities[N 1] Survivors[N 2] Aircraft involved Site
1940 Sep 29 0 4 Two Avro Ansons of the RAAF Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia
1943 April 14 8 0 Two Bristol Beauforts of the RAAF Australia
1943 Dec 7 22[N 3] 2 Two U.S. Navy Douglas SBD Dauntlesses[7] near Pauwela, Maui, Hawaii, U.S.
1952 Apr 4 15 0 USAF C-47 Skytrain / USAF C-124 Globemaster II Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
1953 May 15 3 4 Two USAF C-119 Flying Boxcars / USAF F-84 Thunderjet near Weinheim, Germany
1953 Jan 15 26 0 RAF Vickers Valetta / RAF Avro Lancaster Mediterranean Sea near Sicily
1955 Aug 11 66 0 Two USAF C-119 Flying Boxcars near Stuttgart, Germany
1958 Feb 1 48 2 Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune  / Douglas C-118A Liftmaster Norwalk, California, U.S.
1958 Feb 5 0 4 USAF B-47 Stratojet / USAF F-86 Sabre Tybee Island, Georgia, U.S.
1958 Mar 27 18 0 USAF C-119 Flying Boxcar / USAF C-124 Globemaster II[8] Bridgeport, Texas, U.S.
1965 Jun 15 18 0 Two U.S. Army UH-1D Iroquoises Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.
1966 Jan 17 7 4 USAF B-52G Stratofortress / USAF KC-135 Stratotanker Mediterranean Sea near Palomares, Almería
1966 Jun 8 2 1 XB-70 Valkyrie prototype / F-104 Starfighter near Barstow, California, U.S.
1983 May 1 0 3 Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle / A-4 Skyhawk Negev, Israel
1985 Jul 5 1 0 Two A-4F Skyhawk aircraft of the Blue Angels Niagara Falls, U.S.
1988 Mar 8 17 0 Two U.S. Army UH-60A Blackhawks[9] Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S.
1988 Aug 28 70[N 4] 0 Three Aermacchi MB-339PAN aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori Ramstein Air Base, Germany
1989 Sep 3 1 1 Two Canadair CT-114 Tutor Snowbirds during the Canadian International Air Show Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1994 Mar 23 24[N 5] 7 F-16 Fighting Falcon / C-130 Hercules Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, U.S.
1996 June 12 18 10 Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters of the Australian SAS Townsville, Australia
1996 June 19 6 8 Two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S.
1997 Feb 4 73 0 Two IAF Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters She'ar Yashuv, Israel
1997 Sep 13 33 0 Luftwaffe Tu-154 / USAF C-141 Namibia
2001 Apr 1 1 24 USN Lockheed EP-3E / PLAN Shenyang J-8II South China Sea near Hainan Island, PRC
2002 Nov 6 1 1 Two MiG-29s of the Slovak Air Force near Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia
2009 Feb 11 4 0 Two Grob Tutors of the RAF Porthcawl, Wales, UK
2009 Aug 16 1 1 Two Sukhoi Su-27s of the Russian Knights Moscow, Russia
2009 Oct 30 9 0 USCG C-130 / USMC Cobra Helicopter Off the coast of California, U.S.
2014 June 23 2 1 Learjet 35A / Eurofighter Typhoon Olsberg, Germany
2014 August 19 4 0 Two Tornado fighters Ascoli Piceno, Italy

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 All deaths directly attributable to the collision are counted as fatalities.
  2. 1 2 In general, only occupants of an aircraft directly involved in the mid-air collision are counted as survivors. Bystanders who received nonfatal or no injuries, such as airshow spectators, participants in a military exercise, occupants of nearby non-involved aircraft, and/or airport ground crew, are not included unless their involvement in the incident is particularly notable.
  3. ↑ Includes 20 ground fatalities caused by detonation of bomb that fell from one aircraft as result of collision.
  4. ↑ Fatalities include 3 pilots participating in airshow and 67 bystanders hit by debris, the latter including a pilot in a parked helicopter. Refer to main article.
  5. ↑ All aircrew involved in initial collision survived; all fatalities occurred on the ground as result of debris and burning fuel. Refer to main article.

6

Citations
  1. ↑ Villard, Henry Serrano (1 January 1968). CONTACT! The Story of the Early Birds Man's first decade of flight from Kitty Hawk to World War I. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
  2. ↑ "Aeroplanes in Collision". Popular Mechanics. January 1911. p. 91.
  3. ↑ "The Milan Aviation Meeting, Italy, 1910.". Science Museum Pictorial. Science and Society Picture Library. 1910. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Continental Flight Meetings". Flight. 8 October 1910. pp. 828–829. ...the Antoinette monoplane crashed on to the biplane, both machines falling to earth a mass of broken planes and tangled wires.
  5. ↑ "1973: Mid-air collision kills 68". BBC. 5 March 1973. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  6. ↑ Guilherme Poggio. "Sobrevivente do acidente com o voo 1907 da GOL rompe silêncio | Poder Aéreo - Forças Aéreas e Indústria Aeronáutica". Aereo.jor.br. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  7. ↑ Gero 2010, pp. 26–27.
  8. ↑ Gero 2010, p. 78.
  9. ↑ AP (1988-03-10). "17 DIE IN COLLISION OF ARMY COPTERS". Fort Campbell (Ky): NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
Bibliography
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