- Mid-air collision
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Mid-air collision 
Computer-generated image of United Airlines Flight 718 and TWA Flight 2 colliding. A mid-air collision is an aviation accident in which two or more aircraft come into contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and any subsequent impact on the ground or sea, very severe damage or the total destruction of at least one of the aircraft involved usually results. The chance of surviving a major mid-air collision is virtually zero in the absence of ejector seats and parachutes, as indicated below, although occasionally this rule may be violated (as on 1965 Carmel mid-air collision).
The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by miscommunication, error in navigation, and deviations from flight plans. Albeit a rare occurrence due to the vastness of open space available, collisions often happen near or at airports, due to the large volume of aircraft and closer spacing compared to general flight.
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First recorded mid air collision
Contemporary artist's impression of the first mid air collision, 1910
The first recorded collision between air-planes occurred at the 'Milano Circuito Aereo Internazionale' meeting held between 24 September and 3 October 1910 in the city of Milan, Italy. On 3 October Rene Thomas of France in an Antionette monoplane collided with Captain Bertram Dickson of the British army in a Farman biplane by ramming him in the rear.[1] Both pilots survived but Dickson was so badly injured he never flew again.[2][3][4]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
List of notable civilian mid-air collisions
Date Fatalities Survivors Flights involved Phase of flight Site 1922 Apr 7 7 0 CGEA Farman F.60 / Daimler Hire Ltd. de Havilland DH.18A Cruise Picardie, France, 1938 Aug 24 45 Two Japanese aircraft ? Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan 1942 Oct 23 12 2 American Airlines Flight 28 / US Army B-34 flight Ascent/descent Chino Canyon, California, U.S. 1945 Jul 12 2 24 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, USA 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 Dec 16 134 0 UA Flight 826 / TWA Flight 266 Descent New York City, New York, U.S. 1965 Dec 4 4 158 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 Jul 30 162 1 ANA Flight 58 / JASDF flight Cruise near Shizukuishi, Japan 1973 Mar 5 68 108 Spanish Airlines DC9 / Convair 990[5] Cruise near Nantes, France 1975 Jan 9 14 0 Golden West Airlines Flight 261 / Private flight Climb near Whittier, California, USA 1976 Jun 6 50 1 Hughes Airwest Flight 706 / US Marines flight Climb San Gabriel Mountains, California 1976 Sep 9 64 0 Aeroflot Flight 31 / Aeroflot Flight 7957 Cruise near Anapa, Ruissa 1976 Sep 10 176 0 BA Flight 476 / Inex-Adria Flight 550 Cruise near Zagreb, Croatia 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, Ukraine 1981 Aug 24 37 1 Aeroflot Flight 811 / military aircraft Cruise Zavitinsk, Russia 1985 May 3 94 0 Aeroflot Flight SSSR-65856 / Soviet Air Force Antonov An-26 Descent Zolochev, Ukraine 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. 1990 Apr 9 2 7 ASA Flight 2254 / Private flight Climb/descent Gadsden, Alabama, U.S. 1992 Dec 22 159 0 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 / Libyan Air Force MiG-23 Flight Approach Tripoli, Libya 1993 Nov 26 4 0 NZ Police Eagle / NZ Police traffic patrol Low level Auckland, New Zealand 1996 Nov 12 349 0 Saudi Airlines Flight 763 / Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Climb/descent Charkhi Dadri, India 1997 Jun 25 0 ? Mir / Progress M-34 Orbit Outer space 2002 Jul 1 71 0 Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 / DHL Flight 611 Cruise Überlingen, Germany 2006 Sep 29 154 7 Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 / ExcelAire flight Cruise Amazon Rainforest, Brazil 2007 Jul 27 4 0 KNXV-TV news helicopter / KTVK news helicopter Low level Phoenix, Arizona 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. List of notable military mid-air collisions
XB-70 62-0207 following the mid-air collision on 8 June 1966.Date Fatalities Survivors Aircraft involved Site 1940 Sep 29 0 4 Two Avro Ansons of the RAAF Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia 1952 Apr 4 15 0 USAF C-47 Skytrain / USAF C-124 Globemaster II Mobile, Alabama, USA 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 5 0 4 USAF B-47 Stratojet / USAF F-86 Sabre Tybee Island, Georgia 1958 Mar 27 18 0 USAF C-119 Flying Boxcar / USAF C-124 Globemaster II Bridgeport, Texas, USA 1965 Jun 15 18 0 Two U.S. Army UH-1D Iroquoises Fort Benning, Georgia, USA 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, USA 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, USA 1988 Aug 28 75 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 7 F-16 Fighting Falcon / C-130 Hercules Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, USA 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 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, Africa 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 2007 Sep 1 2 0 Two Zlin Z-526Fs of the AZL Żelazny Near Radom, Poland 2009 Feb 11 4 0 Two Grob Tutors of the RAF Porthcawl, Wales 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.A See also
- Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B)
- Disruptive Solutions Process
- Near miss (safety)
- Portable Collision Avoidance System (PCAS)
- Traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS)
References
- ^ Villard, Henry Serrano (January 1, 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.. http://earlyaviators.com/ethomren.htm.
- ^ "Aeroplanes in Collision". Popular Mechanics: page 91. January 1911. http://books.google.com/books?id=Sd4DAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ "The Milan Aviation Meeting, Italy, 1910.". Science Museum Pictorial. Science and Society Picture Library. 1910. http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10304784&wwwflag=2&imagepos=40. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ "Continental Flight Meetings". Flight: page 828–829. 8 October 1910. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1910/1910%20-%200830.html. "...the Antoinette monoplane crashed on to the biplane, both machines falling to earth a mass of broken planes and tangled wires."
- ^ "1973: Mid-air collision kills 68". BBC. 5 March 1973. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/5/newsid_4202000/4202039.stm. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
External links
- Analysis of Mid-Air Collisions, One of the most hazardous consequences of a loss of separation between aircraft, including as a result of a level bust, is a mid-air collision SKYbrary
- Indepth Backgrounder: Mid-air collision, CBC
- SeeAndAvoid, DoD Civil-Military Midair Collision Prevention Portal
- Interactive Web Site Helps Pilots ‘See and Avoid’ Midair Collisions, DefenseLink Press Release
- Low Altitude Military Aircraft Deconfliction Webtool
Lists of aviation accidents and incidents By type Commercial Military by year (pre-1925 · 1925-1934 · 1935-1939 · 1940-1944 · 1945-1949 · 1950–1959 · 1960–1974 · 1975–1999 · 2000–present) · Iraq War · USAF · War in AfghanistanOther Deaths Related topics For more exhaustive lists, see the Aircraft Crashes Record Office (ACRO) and Aviation Safety Network websites.
Italics indicates the list is a wikicategory.Categories:- Mid-air collisions
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