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List of mid-air collisions

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

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

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Date Fatalities[N 1] Survivors[N 2] Flights involved Phase of flight Country Site
April 7, 1922 7 0 CGEA Farman F.60 / Daimler Hire Ltd. de Havilland DH.18A 492 ft (150 m) France Picardy
April 21, 1929 6 0 Maddux Airlines Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor / US Army Air Corps Boeing PW-9D) 2,000 ft (610 m) United States San Diego, California
May 18, 1935 45 0 Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky VVS Polikarpov I-5 Cruise Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Moscow
August 24, 1938 5 + 80 ground fatalities Japanese Flying School (Hanriot HD-1) and Japan Airlines Transportation (Fokker Super Universal) Unknown Japan Ōmori, Tokyo
October 23, 1942 12 2 American Airlines Flight 28 / US Army Air Force B-34 Ascent/descent (9,000 ft (2,700 m)) United States Chino Canyon, California
July 12, 1945 3 20 Eastern Airlines Flight 45 / US Army Air Force A-26 Invader Descent United States Florence, South Carolina
April 22, 1947 9 0 Delta Air Lines Survey (Douglas DC-3C) / Vultee BT-13 Valiant Descent United States Muscogee County Airport
April 5, 1948 15 0 British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking / Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter Approach Germany RAF Gatow, Berlin
July 4, 1948 39 0 Scandinavian Airlines System DC-6 / RAF Avro York Descent United Kingdom Northwood, London
January 30, 1949 2 33 Pan Am Flight 100 (Lockheed L-749 Constellation) / Cessna 140 Climb United States Port Washington, New York
February 19, 1949 14 0 BEA Douglas Dakota / RAF Avro Anson Cruise United Kingdom Exhall
November 1, 1949 55 1 Eastern Air Lines 537 / Lockheed P-38 test flight Approach United States Washington, DC
April 25, 1951 43 0 Cubana de Aviación 493 / US Navy flight Cruise/climb United States Key West, Florida
June 28, 1952 2 60 American Airlines Flight 910 / private Temco Swift Approach United States Dallas, Texas
April 8, 1954 37 0 Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 9 / RCAF Harvard Cruise Canada Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
January 12, 1955 15 0 TWA Flight 694 / Private DC-3 Climb United States Boone County, Kentucky
June 30, 1956 128 0 UA Flight 718 / TWA Flight 2


 Cruise United States Grand Canyon, Arizona
January 31, 1957 8 0 Douglas Aircraft Company DC-7B / Northrop F-89J Scorpion Cruise United States Pacoima, Los Angeles, California
April 21, 1958 49 0 United Air Lines Flight 736 / USAF F-100 Super Sabre Cruise United States Las Vegas, Nevada
May 20, 1958 13 1 Capital Airlines Flight 300 / Air National Guard flight Descent United States Brunswick, Maryland
October 22, 1958 31 1 British European Airways Flight 142 / Italian Air Force F-86 Sabre jet fighter Descent Italy Near Anzio
February 25, 1960 61 3 Real Transportes Aéreos DC-3 / US Navy R6D flight Descent Brazil Rio de Janeiro
May 19, 1960 1 38 Air Algérie Sud Aviation SE210 Caravelle 1A / Stampe SV.4 Approach France Paris-Orly
December 16, 1960 134 0 UA Flight 826 / TWA Flight 266 Descent United States New York City
February 1, 1963 104 0 MEA Flight 265 / Turkish Air Force flight Descent Turkey Ankara
December 4, 1965 4 108 TWA Flight 42 / Eastern Airlines Flight 853 Descent United States Carmel, New York
March 9, 1967 26 0 TWA Flight 553 / Private flight Descent United States Urbana, Ohio
July 19, 1967 82 0 Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 / Lanseair Inc. flight Climb/descent United States Hendersonville, North Carolina,
March 27, 1968 2 49 Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 / Private flight Approach United States St. Louis, Missouri
August 4, 1968 3 12 North Central Airlines Flight 261 / Private flight Descent/Cruise United States Wind Lake, Wisconsin
June 23, 1969 120 0 Aeroflot Flight 831/ Soviet Air Force flight Cruise Soviet Union Yukhnovsky District
September 9, 1969 82 0 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 / Private flight Descent United States Fairland, Indiana
June 6, 1971 50 1 Hughes Airwest Flight 706 / F-4 Phantom Climb United States San Gabriel Mountains, California
July 30, 1971 162 1 ANA Flight 58 / JASDF flight Cruise Japan near Shizukuishi
August 4, 1971 0 98 Continental Airlines Flight 712 / Private Flight 3,950 ft (1,200 m) United States Compton, California
June 29, 1972 13 0 North Central Airlines Flight 290 / Air Wisconsin Flight 671 Cruise United States Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin
July 29, 1972 38 0 Avianca Flight 626  / Another Avianca Flight[4][5] Cruise Colombia Near Las Palomas
March 5, 1973 68 107 Iberia Flight 504 / Spantax Flight 400[6] Cruise France near Nantes
August 9, 1974 3 0 RAF Phantom FGR2 / Piper Pawnee crop duster Low level United Kingdom Fordham Fen, Norfolk
November 1, 1974 38 0 Antonov An-2 / Mil Mi-8 Approach Soviet Union Near Surgut, Soviet Union
January 9, 1975 14 0 Golden West Airlines Flight 261 / Private flight Climb United States near Whittier, California
September 9, 1976 70 0 Aeroflot Flight 31 / Aeroflot Flight 7957 Cruise Soviet Union near Anapa, Russian SFSR
September 10, 1976 176 0 British Airways Flight 476 / Inex-Adria Flight 550 Cruise Yugoslavia near Zagreb, SR Croatia
September 25, 1978 144 0 PSA Flight 182 / Private flight Descent United States San Diego, California
August 11, 1979 178 0 Aeroflot Flight 7628 / Aeroflot Flight 7880 Cruise Soviet Union Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukrainian SSR
July 28, 1981 3 1 Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense CL-44 / Soviet Air Force Sukhoi Su-15 Cruise Soviet Union Yerevan, ASSR
August 24, 1981 37 1 Aeroflot Flight 811 / Soviet Air Force Tupolev Tu-16K Cruise Soviet Union Zavitinsk, Russian SFSR,
April 18, 1984 19 16 Two VOTEC Servicios Aéreos Regionais Flights[7][8] Approach Brazil Near Imperatriz Airport
August 24, 1984 17 0 Wings West Airlines Flight 628 / Rockwell Commander 112 Descent/climb United States Near San Luis Obispo, California
May 3, 1985 94 0 Aeroflot Flight SSSR-65856  / Soviet Air Force Antonov An-26 Descent Soviet Union Zolochev, Ukrainian SSR
June 18, 1986 25 0 Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6  / Private helicopter flight Low level United States Grand Canyon
August 31, 1986 82 0 Aeroméxico Flight 498 / Private flight Descent/climb United States Cerritos, California
January 15, 1987 10 0 SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834 / Private flight Approach United States Kearns, Utah
August 28, 1988 3 + 67 ground fatalities 0 3 Aermacchi MB-339PAN of the Frecce Tricolori Air show Germany Ramstein Air Base
April 9, 1990 2 7 ASA Flight 2254 / Private flight Climb/descent United States Gadsden, Alabama
April 4, 1991 5 + 2 ground fatalities 0 Lycoming Air Piper Aerostar / Sun Oil Company Bell 412 Low level United States Merion, Pennsylvania
December 22, 1992 157 2 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 / Libyan Air Force MiG-23 jet fighter Approach Libya Tripoli
February 8, 1993 133 0 Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154M / Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 Climb/approach Iran Tehran
November 26, 1993 4 0 NZ Police Eagle / NZ Police traffic patrol Low level New Zealand Auckland
November 12, 1996 349 0 Saudia Flight 763 / Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Climb/descent India Charkhi Dadri
July 30, 1998 15 0 Proteus Airlines Flight 706 / Private flight Low level Quiberon Bay, France
February 8, 2000 3 0 Zlin 242L / Cessna 172 Descent United States Zion, Illinois
July 1, 2002 71 0 Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 / DHL Flight 611 Cruise Germany Überlingen
January 18, 2005 1 2 Air Tractor AT-502B  / US Air Force Cessna T-37B Cruise United States Hollister, Oklahoma
September 29, 2006 154 7[9] Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 / ExcelAire flight Cruise Brazil Amazon rainforest
March 5, 2007 8 0 Aérospatiale SA 332 Super Puma / private Diamond DV20 Katana Low level Austria Zell am See Airport
July 27, 2007 4 0 KNXV-TV news helicopter / KTVK news helicopter Low level United States Phoenix, Arizona
September 1, 2007 2 0 Two Zlin Z-526Fs of the AZL Żelazny Aerobatic display Poland Near Radom
August 8, 2009 9 0 Piper PA-32 / Eurocopter AS350 helicopter Low level United States Hudson River, New York
September 20, 2012 3 200 Syrian Arab Airlines Flight RB-501 / Syrian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter Climb Syria Damascus
November 2, 2013 0 11 Cessna 182L / Cessna 185F Cruise United States Superior, Wisconsin[10][11]
October 23, 2014 3 2 Cirrus SR22 / Robinson R44 II Approach/Climb United States Frederick, Maryland[12][13]
March 9, 2015 10 0 Two Eurocopter AS350 helicopters Climb Argentina La Rioja Province
July 7, 2015 2 1 USAF F-16 / Cesna 150 Approach / Climb United States Moncks Corner, South Carolina
September 5, 2015 7 112 Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines Flight 71 / Senegalair business jet Cruise Senegal Eastern
May 13, 2019 6 10 Mountain Air Service DHC-2 / Taquan Air DHC-3 Descent United States George Inlet, Alaska
July 31, 2020 7 0 de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver / Piper PA-12 Climb United States Soldotna, Alaska
May 12, 2021 0 3 Key Lime Air Flight 970 / Private Cirrus SR22 flight Approach United States Arapahoe County, Colorado
July 17, 2022 4 0 Piper PA-46 Malibu / Cessna 172 Approach United States North Las Vegas, Nevada
September 17, 2022 3 0 Cessna 172 / Sonex Xenos Cruise United States Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado
September 24, 2022 2 0 Zlín Z-526 / Zlín Z-526 Aerobatic display Germany Gera
January 2, 2023 4 9 Two Eurocopter EC130 helicopters Climb/descent Australia Gold Coast Seaway, Queensland
March 7, 2023 4 0 Piper PA28-161 Cadet / Piper J-3 Cub Climb/Descent United States Winter Haven, Florida
March 5, 2024 2 44 De Havilland Canada Dash 8 / Cessna 172 Cruise Kenya Nairobi National Park
October 26, 2024 3 0 Cessna 182 / Jabiru UL-450 Cruise Australia Belimbla Park, New South Wales
January 29, 2025 67 0 American Eagle Flight 5342 / U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter Descent United States Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, United States

Purely military

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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.
Date Fatalities[N 1] Survivors[N 2] Aircraft involved Site
September 29, 1940 0 4 Two Avro Ansons of the RAAF Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia
January 15, 1953 26 0 RAF Vickers Valetta / RAF Avro Lancaster Mediterranean Sea near Sicily
August 11, 1955 66 0 Two USAF C-119 Flying Boxcars near Stuttgart, Germany
February 5, 1958 0 4 USAF B-47 Stratojet / USAF F-86 Sabre Tybee Island, Georgia, U.S.
June 15, 1965 18 0 Two U.S. Army UH-1D Iroquoises Fort Benning, Georgia, U.S.
January 17, 1966 7 4 USAF B-52G Stratofortress / USAF KC-135 Stratotanker Mediterranean Sea near Palomares, Almería, Spain
May 1, 1983 0 3 Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle / A-4 Skyhawk Negev, Israel
August 28, 1988 70[N 3] 0 Three Aermacchi MB-339PAN aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori Ramstein Air Base, Germany
March 23, 1994 24[N 4] 7 F-16 Fighting Falcon / C-130 Hercules Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, U.S.
February 4, 1997 73 0 Two IAF Sikorsky CH-53 helicopters She'ar Yashuv, Israel
September 13, 1997 33 0 USAF C-141B Starlifter / German Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M Off the coast of Namibia
September 3, 1998 12[14] 0 2 USAF HH-60G Pavehawk Nevada Test & Training Range
April 1, 2001 1 24 USN Lockheed EP-3E / PLAN Shenyang J-8II South China Sea near Hainan Island, PRC
August 16, 2009 1 1 Two Sukhoi Su-27s of the Russian Knights Moscow, Russia
October 30, 2009 9 0 USCG C-130 / USMC Cobra Helicopter Off the coast of California, U.S.
March 1, 2011 1[15] 1 Two SLAF IAI Kfir Yakkala, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
June 23, 2014 2 1 Learjet 35A / Eurofighter Typhoon Olsberg, Germany
November 25, 2019 13 0 French Armed Forces Eurocopter Tiger / Eurocopter AS532 Cougar Ménaka, Ménaka Region, Mali
November 12, 2022 6 0 B-17 Flying Fortress / Bell P-63 Kingcobra Dallas, Texas, U.S.
April 27, 2023 3[16] 1 Two AH-64 Apache Healy, Alaska, U.S.
July 1, 2023 1 1 Two T-27 Tucano Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia
August 25, 2023 3[17] ? Two L-39 Albatros Zhytomyr oblast, Ukraine
April 23, 2024 10[18] 0 AgustaWestland AW139 / Eurocopter Fennec RMN Lumut Naval Base, Lumut, Perak, Malaysia

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b All deaths directly attributable to the collision are counted as fatalities.
  2. ^ a b 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.

References

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  1. ^ "Midair Collision Report – General Aviation Joint Safety Committee". www.gajsc.org. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  2. ^ "Mid-Air Collision | SKYbrary Aviation Safety". skybrary.aero. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  3. ^ turner, t (2022-09-21). "Mid-Air Strategies". Aviation Safety. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  4. ^ "Accident Description for HK-1341". Aviation Safety Network. 1972-07-29. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  5. ^ "Accident Description for HK-107". Aviation Safety Network. 1972-07-29. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  6. ^ "1973: Mid-air collision kills 68". BBC. 5 March 1973. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  7. ^ "Accident Description for PT_GJZ". Aviation Safety Network. 1984-04-18. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  8. ^ "Accident Description for PT-GKL". Aviation Safety Network. 1984-04-18. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  9. ^ Guilherme Poggio (24 May 2010). "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.
  10. ^ "NTSB Identification: CEN14LA036A". 23 July 2015. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  11. ^ Jeff Wise (6 November 2013). "What Went Wrong in the Skydiving Planes Collision?". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  12. ^ "NTSB Identification: ERA15FA025". 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  13. ^ Paige Jones (23 April 2016). "NTSB releases new report on 2014 fatal midair collision of plane, helicopter?". Frederick News-Post. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  14. ^ "66th RQS remembers fallen Airmen 20 years later". Air Mobility Command. 2018-09-28. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  15. ^ Kirinde, Chandani (6 March 2011). "Shocked residents see Kfirs crashing, pilot plummeting". sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  16. ^ Albeck-Ripka, Livia (28 April 2023). "Two U.S. Army helicopters crash in Alaska, killing 3 soldiers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Three Ukrainian military fighter pilots die in mid-air collision". The Jerusalem Post. 2023-08-26. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  18. ^ "Copter tragedy: 10 dead, no survivors, says Ministry". The Star. 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
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