List of mid-air collisions

Last updated

This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving mid-air collisions. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

In aviation, a mid-air collision is an 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 usually results.

The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by miscommunication, mistrust, error in navigation, deviations from flight plans, lack of situational awareness, and the lack of traffic 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.

Involving civilians

DateFatalities [N 1] Survivors [N 2] Flights involvedPhase of flightSite
1922April 770 CGEA Farman F.60 / Daimler Hire Ltd. de Havilland DH.18A 492 ft (150 m) Picardy, France
1929April 2160Maddux Airlines Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor / US Army Air Corps Boeing PW-9D)2,000 ft (610 m)San Diego, California, United States
1935May 18450 Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky VVS Polikarpov I-5 Cruise Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1938August 245 + 80 ground fatalitiesJapanese Flying School (Hanriot HD-1) and Japan Airlines Transportation (Fokker Super Universal)Unknown Ōmori, Tokyo, Japan
1942October 23122 American Airlines Flight 28 / US Army Air Force B-34 Ascent/descent (9,000 ft (2,700 m)) Chino Canyon, California, United States
1945July 12320 Eastern Airlines Flight 45 / US Army Air Force A-26 Invader Descent Florence, South Carolina, United States
1947April 2290 Delta Air Lines Survey (Douglas DC-3C) / Vultee BT-13 Valiant Descent Muscogee County Airport, United States
1948April 5150 British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking / Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter Approach RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany
1948July 4390 Scandinavian Airlines System DC-6 /RAF Avro York Descent Northwood, London, United Kingdom
1949January 30233Pan Am Flight 100 (Lockheed L-749 Constellation) / Cessna 140Climb Port Washington, New York, United States
1949February 19140 BEA Douglas Dakota /RAF Avro Anson Cruise Exhall, United Kingdom
1949November 1551 Eastern Air Lines 537 / Lockheed P-38 test flight Approach Washington, DC, United States
1951April 25430 Cubana de Aviación 493 / US Navy flight Cruise/climb Key West, Florida, United States
1952June 28260 American Airlines Flight 910 / private Temco Swift Approach Dallas, Texas, United States
1954April 8370 Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 9 / RCAF Harvard Cruise Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Canada
1955January 12150 TWA Flight 694 / Private DC-3 Climb Boone County, Kentucky, United States
1956June 301280 UA Flight 718 / TWA Flight 2

UAL DC-7 (cropped).jpg
Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation Star of the Seine N6902C at Kansas City Fairfax Airport (KCK), June 1951 Clint Groves (cropped).jpg

Cruise Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States
1957January 3180 Douglas Aircraft Company DC-7B / Northrop F-89J Scorpion Cruise Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, United States
1958April 21490 United Air Lines Flight 736 / USAF F-100 Super Sabre Cruise Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
1958May 20131 Capital Airlines Flight 300 / Air National Guard flight Descent Brunswick, Maryland, United States
1958October 22311 British European Airways Flight 142 / Italian Air Force F-86 Sabre jet fighter DescentNear Anzio, Italy
1960February 25613 Real Transportes Aéreos DC-3 / US Navy R6D flight Descent Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1960May 19138 Air Algérie Sud Aviation SE210 Caravelle 1A / Stampe SV.4 Approach Paris-Orly, France
1960December 161340 UA Flight 826 / TWA Flight 266 Descent New York City, United States
1963February 11040 MEA Flight 265 / Turkish Air Force flight Descent Ankara, Turkey
1965December 44108 TWA Flight 42 / Eastern Airlines Flight 853 Descent Carmel, New York, United States
1967March 9260 TWA Flight 553 / Private flight Descent Urbana, Ohio, United States
1967July 19820 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 / Lanseair Inc. flight Climb/descent Hendersonville, North Carolina, United States
1968March 27249 Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 / Private flight Approach St. Louis, Missouri, United States
1968August 4312 North Central Airlines Flight 261 / Private flightDescent/Cruise Wind Lake, Wisconsin, United States
1969June 231200 Aeroflot Flight 831/ Soviet Air Force flight Cruise Yukhnovsky District, Soviet Union
1969September 9820 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 / Private flight Descent Fairland, Indiana, United States
1971June 6501 Hughes Airwest Flight 706 / F-4 Phantom Climb San Gabriel Mountains, California, United States
1971July 301621 ANA Flight 58 / JASDF flight Cruisenear Shizukuishi, Japan
1971August 4098 Continental Airlines Flight 712 / Private Flight3,950 ft (1,200 m) Compton, California, United States
1972June 29130 North Central Airlines Flight 290 / Air Wisconsin Flight 671 Cruise Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, United States
1972July 29380Avianca Flight 626  / Another Avianca Flight [4] [5] CruiseNear Las Palomas, Colombia
1973March 568107 Iberia Flight 504 /Spantax Flight 400 [6] Cruisenear Nantes, France
1974August 930 RAF Phantom FGR2 / Piper Pawnee crop duster Low levelFordham Fen, Norfolk, United Kingdom
1974November 1380 Antonov An-2 / Mil Mi-8 ApproachNear Surgut, Soviet Union
1975January 9140 Golden West Airlines Flight 261 / Private flight Climbnear Whittier, California, United States
1976September 9700 Aeroflot Flight 31 /Aeroflot Flight 7957 Cruisenear Anapa, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1976September 101760 British Airways Flight 476 / Inex-Adria Flight 550 Cruisenear Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
1978September 251440 PSA Flight 182 / Private flight Descent San Diego, California, United States
1979August 111780 Aeroflot Flight 7628 / Aeroflot Flight 7880 Cruise Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
1981July 2831 Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense CL-44 /Soviet Air Force Sukhoi Su-15 Cruise Yerevan, ASSR
1981August 24371 Aeroflot Flight 811 /Soviet Air Force Tupolev Tu-16K Cruise Zavitinsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
1984April 181916Two VOTEC Servicios Aéreos Regionais Flights [7] [8] ApproachNear Imperatriz Airport, Brazil
1984August 24170 Wings West Airlines Flight 628 / Rockwell Commander 112 Descent/climbNear San Luis Obispo, California
1985May 3940 Aeroflot Flight SSSR-65856  /Soviet Air Force Antonov An-26 Descent Zolochev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
1986June 18250 Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6  /Private helicopter flight Low level Grand Canyon, United States
1986August 31820 Aeroméxico Flight 498 / Private flight Descent/climb Cerritos, California, United States
1987January 15100 SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834 / Private flight Approach Kearns, Utah, United States
1988August 283 + 67 ground fatalities0 3 Aermacchi MB-339PAN of the Frecce Tricolori Air show Ramstein Air Base, Germany
1990April 927 ASA Flight 2254 / Private flight Climb/descent Gadsden, Alabama, United States
1991April 45 + 2 ground fatalities0 Lycoming Air Piper Aerostar / Sun Oil Company Bell 412 Low level Merion, Pennsylvania
1992December 221572 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 / Libyan Air Force MiG-23 jet fighter Approach Tripoli, Libya
1993February 81330 Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154M / Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 Climb/approach Tehran, Iran
1993November 2640 NZ Police Eagle / NZ Police traffic patrol Low level Auckland, New Zealand
1996November 123490 Saudia Flight 763 / Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Climb/descent Charkhi Dadri, India
1998July 30150 Proteus Airlines Flight 706 / Private flight Low level Quiberon Bay, France
2000February 830 Zlin 242L /Cessna 172 Descent Zion, Illinois, United States
2002July 1710 Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 / DHL Flight 611 Cruise Überlingen, Germany
2005January 1812 Air Tractor AT-502B  / US Air Force Cessna T-37B Cruise Hollister, Oklahoma, United States
2006September 291547 [9] Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 / ExcelAire flight Cruise Amazon rainforest, Brazil
2007March 580 Aérospatiale SA 332 Super Puma / private Diamond DV20 Katana Low level Zell am See Airport, Austria
2007July 2740 KNXV-TV news helicopter / KTVK news helicopter Low level Phoenix, Arizona, United States
2007September 120 Two Zlin Z-526Fs of the AZL Żelazny Aerobatic displayNear Radom, Poland
2009August 890 Piper PA-32 / Eurocopter AS350 helicopter Low level Hudson River, New York, United States
2012September 203200 Syrian Arab Airlines Flight RB-501 / Syrian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter Climb Damascus, Syria
2013November 2011Cessna 182L / Cessna 185FCruise Superior, Wisconsin, United States [10] [11]
2014October 2332Cirrus SR22 / Robinson R44 IIApproach/Climb Frederick, Maryland, United States [12] [13]
2015March 9100 Two Eurocopter AS350 helicopters Climb La Rioja Province, Argentina
2015July 721 USAF F-16 / Cesna 150 Approach / Climb Moncks Corner, South Carolina, United States
2015September 57112 Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines Flight 71 / Senegalair business jet CruiseEastern Senegal
2019May 13610 Mountain Air Service DHC-2 /Taquan Air DHC-3 Descent George Inlet, Alaska, United States
2020July 3170 de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver / Piper PA-12 Climb Soldotna, Alaska, United States
2021May 1203 Key Lime Air Flight 970 /Private Cirrus SR22 flight Approach Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States
2022July 1740Piper PA-46 Malibu / Cessna 172Approach North Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
2022September 1730Cessna 172 /Sonex XenosCruise Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado
2022September 2420Zlín Z-526 /Zlín Z-526Aerobatic display Gera, Germany
2023January 249 Two Eurocopter EC130 helicopters Climb/descent Gold Coast Seaway, Queensland, Australia
2023March 740 Piper PA28-161 Cadet / Piper J-3 Cub Climb/Descent Winter Haven, Florida, United States
2024March 5244 De Havilland Canada Dash 8 / Cessna 172 Cruise Nairobi National Park, Kenya
2024October 2630 Cessna 182 / Jabiru UL-450 Cruise Belimbla Park, New South Wales, Australia
2025January 29670 American Eagle Flight 5342 / U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter Descent Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, United States

Purely military

XB-70 Valkyrie 62-0207 following the mid-air collision on 8 June 1966: The XB-70 can be seen at the far left of the image, missing one of its vertical stabilizers, while the large fireball is the F-104 Starfighter with which it collided. North American XB-70A Valkyrie just after collision 061122-F-1234P-037.jpg
XB-70 Valkyrie 62-0207 following the mid-air collision on 8 June 1966: The XB-70 can be seen at the far left of the image, missing one of its vertical stabilizers, while the large fireball is the F-104 Starfighter with which it collided.
DateFatalities [N 1] Survivors [N 2] Aircraft involvedSite
1940September 2904 Two Avro Ansons of the RAAF Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia
1953January 15260 RAF Vickers Valetta / RAF Avro Lancaster Mediterranean Sea near Sicily
1955August 11660 Two USAF C-119 Flying Boxcars near Stuttgart, Germany
1958February 504 USAF B-47 Stratojet / USAF F-86 Sabre Tybee Island, Georgia, U.S.
1965June 15180 Two U.S. Army UH-1D Iroquoises Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.
1966January 1774 USAF B-52G Stratofortress / USAF KC-135 Stratotanker Mediterranean Sea near Palomares, Almería, Spain
1983May 103 Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle / A-4 Skyhawk Negev, Israel
1988August 2870 [N 3] 0 Three Aermacchi MB-339PAN aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori Ramstein Air Base, Germany
1994March 2324 [N 4] 7 F-16 Fighting Falcon / C-130 Hercules Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, U.S.
1997February 4730 Two IAF Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters She'ar Yashuv, Israel
1997September 13330 USAF C-141B Starlifter / German Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M Off the coast of Namibia
1998September 312 [14] 02 USAF HH-60G PavehawkNevada Test & Training Range
2001April 1124 USN Lockheed EP-3E / PLAN Shenyang J-8II South China Sea near Hainan Island, PRC
2009August 1611 Two Sukhoi Su-27s of the Russian Knights Moscow, Russia
2009October 3090 USCG C-130 / USMC Cobra Helicopter Off the coast of California, U.S.
2011March 11 [15] 1 Two SLAF IAI Kfir Yakkala, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
2014June 2321 Learjet 35A / Eurofighter Typhoon Olsberg, Germany
2019November 25130 French Armed Forces Eurocopter Tiger / Eurocopter AS532 Cougar Ménaka, Ménaka Region, Mali
2022November 1260 B-17 Flying Fortress / Bell P-63 Kingcobra Dallas, Texas, U.S.
2023April 273 [16] 1 Two AH-64 Apache Healy, Alaska, U.S.
2023July 111Two T-27 Tucano Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia
2023August 253 [17]  ?Two L-39 Albatros Zhytomyr oblast, Ukraine
2024April 2310 [18] 0 AgustaWestland AW139 / Eurocopter Fennec RMN Lumut Naval Base, Lumut, Perak, Malaysia

See also

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 noninvolved aircraft, and/or airport ground crew, are not included unless their involvement in the incident is particularly notable.
  3. Includes three aircrew and 67 ground fatalities, refer to main article.
  4. All ground fatalities, refer to main article.

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References

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