Arizona: Two Dead After Planes Collide

Above: Marana Regional Airport seen from above. Image copyright: Wild Horizon/Universal Images Group/Contributor via Getty Images

The Facts

  • Two people have died after two single-engine planes collided mid-air near an Arizona airport, officials said on Wednesday.

  • According to preliminary information from the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB), a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II struck each other at 8.28 a.m. local time near Maranga Regional Airport on the outskirts of Tucson.

  • The statement added that the Cessna "landed uneventfully," while the Lancair "impacted terrain" near the airport's third runway and "a post-impact fire ensued."


The Spin

Narrative A

This is the latest in a string of midair collisions in recent weeks. We will have to wait for the conclusion of investigations into whether issues with airfield infrastructure or any other factors affected events in Arizona, but with scores of lives lost already in January, anxiety over US air travel is justified.


Narrative B

Though these incidents may be prompting anxiety among the American public, it must be stressed that flying is by far the safest form of travel. Safety procedures are rigid on all flights, and it is statistically far more dangerous to travel by car than airplane. These isolated, if high-profile incidents should not discourage the public from air travel.



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