Karmactive Staff
Two planes crashed into each other in the morning sky above Marana Regional Airport near Tucson on February 19. Two people died. The crash happened at 8:28 AM when a training aircraft and a small private plane collided.
The training plane, a Cessna 172S, landed safely. Its two pilots walked away unhurt. The private plane, a Lancair 360 MK II, crashed and caught fire. Both people in the Lancair died.
“We are deeply saddened by the two fatalities from this tragic accident,” said Matt Panichas. He speaks for AeroGuard, the flight school that owned the Cessna.
The crash highlights a common challenge at small airports. Marana, like many local airports, has no control tower. Pilots must talk to each other directly over radio to avoid hitting each other. They announce their takeoffs and landings on a shared channel.
“They should have been talking to each other so both knew where each was,” said Devin Starr. He owns a flight school in Chandler, Arizona. “When you’re going into an airport without a tower, it’s up to the pilots to plan ahead.”
Safety records show this isn’t the first close call at Marana. Seven near-mid-air collisions were reported here in the past ten years. Two of these near-misses happened last year. In October, a flight teacher warned that the way planes approach the airport brings them too close together.
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The airport planned to build a control tower. But COVID-19 delayed construction. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of flights arrive and depart at Marana each year without tower guidance.
Jeff Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the government, explains that pilots follow basic rules at airports without towers. “All pilots should be broadcasting on this common traffic advisory frequency. And there’s also a responsibility to see and avoid. Each pilot is responsible to see and avoid so they don’t collide with each other,” he said.
This crash adds to recent aviation accidents in North America. On January 29, 67 people died when a passenger jet hit a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. A medical plane crash in Philadelphia and an accident in Alaska followed.
Small planes face different risks than big airlines. Over 204,000 private planes fly in the United States. They follow less strict rules than commercial planes. Yet January’s preliminary data from the NTSB shows a record low number of airplane accidents nationwide among private and commercial flights.
Galen Beem, who runs the Marana airport, shared his concern: “Our hearts go out to all the families affected by this event.” The airport closed while investigators look for answers.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent experts to study the crash site. They will check both planes and look at how the pilots communicated. Their first report should come out in a few days.
