Nasty Mid-Air Collision
February 10th, 2006 •
Yesterday two planes collided near the airport from which I fly, killing all occupants of both planes. A third plane may have been involved in the accident and is missing from the airport. The accident happened over a fairly dense population area but fortunately no body was seriously injured on the ground. There is a chilling picture in the San Diego Union Tribune article showing one of the planes falling out of the sky in flames. Too early of course for the NTSB report but once again we are reminded to be extra vigilant when operating close to an airport.
Update: Re-reading the articles I’m going to speculate that the 182 caught up with the 172 after take-off and didn’t see it. When I was getting my high performance endorsement in the 182 I was shocked at just how quickly we caught the proceeding traffic and, more alarmingly, how quickly we lost sight of it in the pattern. Of course the media is notoriously crap at reporting the facts, especially in an aviation accident, so it could all change in a day or two.
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Administrator February 10, 2006at 5:23 am
I see now that the flying school was Scandinavian Aviation Academy. A new report on the U-T site says that the 172 was on an instrument flight plan, so perhaps the controller tapes will shed some light. We await the NTSB report.
This situation really sucks. I spent the evening glued to the news in the hopes of getting some clue as to which school was involved (obviously hoping it’s not mine) only to get the same picture of the wreckage over and over again. Once again the news channels don’t fail to disappoint. Of course the whole airport is talking about it today and I’ve answered several phone calls with “Sorry, I don’t have any information”. I’m quite interested to see the NTSB report when it comes out.