2 dead in small plane collision at southern Arizona airport

[sunshine1104]

A midair collision between two small planes in southern Arizona on Wednesday morning resulted in the deaths of two people, authorities confirmed. The accident occurred at Marana Regional Airport, located on the outskirts of Tucson.

According to federal air safety investigators, each aircraft had two people on board at the time of the collision. One plane managed to land safely, while the other crashed near a runway and caught fire. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation, shared these preliminary details before its team arrived at the scene.

The Marana Police Department confirmed that both fatalities were from the aircraft that crashed. Sgt. Vincent Rizzi stated that responders had no opportunity to provide medical assistance. The two individuals on the other plane were unharmed. Firefighters from the municipal department were called in to extinguish the flames.

Officials noted that neither the Lancair nor the Cessna 172 involved in the collision was based at the airport. The town of Marana released a statement confirming this detail.

This deadly incident comes just over a week after a plane crash in Scottsdale, where a private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil veered off the runway, resulting in the death of one pilot. It also follows a series of recent aviation disasters in North America, including a Delta jet flipping upside down upon landing in Toronto and a fatal commuter plane crash in Alaska.

In late January, the U.S. experienced its deadliest aviation disaster since 2001 when 67 people died in Washington, D.C., following a midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter. The next day, a medical transport jet carrying six people crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing all onboard and injuring 19 others.

Marana Regional Airport operates without an air traffic control tower and features two intersecting runways. A multimillion-dollar project to build a control tower was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pushing back construction. Despite handling tens of thousands of flights annually, the airport relies on pilots communicating their positions and intentions over a designated radio channel.

Jeff Guzzetti, an airline safety consultant and former investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB, emphasized that the absence of a control tower does not inherently make an airport unsafe. He explained that pilots are responsible for maintaining situational awareness, broadcasting their movements, and avoiding collisions.