Monday, March 7, 2011

Midair Collisions - Still Rare Events Update - March 7, 2011


This article appeared on the AOPA web site
Midair Collisions - Rare events update for the year 2008
23 total / 6 fatal
Non-commercial fixed-wing aircraft were involved in 11 midair collisions in 2008. Four of them were fatal, causing 14 total fatalities. Nine (including all four of the fatal accidents) were between two air- planes operated non-commercially; one involved an aerial application airplane, and one towplane collided with the glider it was pulling.
Three of the eight airplanes involved in fatal midair collisions were on instructional flights, and two of these hit each other: a Cessna 172 and a Piper PA-44- 180 collided in a very busy training area in Florida. Another Cessna 172 flown by a solo student pilot col- lided with a Cirrus SR22 in Wyoming. The other five (including the Cirrus) were all on personal flights.
Four more collisions took place on runways during takeoffs and landings, and five while taxiing. A col- lision between two amateur-built aircraft at a fly-in killed both pilots and both passengers: a Velocity RG went off the left side of the runway after land- ing and hit an RV-8, which had taxied clear. None of the other eight on-ground collisions were fatal.
On the commercial side, there were two non-fatal taxi collisions between fixed-wing air taxis (both in Bethel, Alaska). A fatal collision between two medi- cal transport helicopters on approach to the same hospital killed all seven on board both aircraft.

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