Two people were dead following a midair collision involving two smaller planes on Wednesday morning at the Marana Regional Airport northwest of Tucson, officials said.
The regional airport does not have an air traffic control tower, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
A crewed tower was supposed to be in place by the end of 2024 to accommodate an increase in traffic and improve safety. The completion of the tower was pushed back to March 2025 due to supply chain and other problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Vic Hathaway, communications manager for the town of Marana.
“Two confirmed dead and both planes were smaller fixed wing single engine planes,” the Marana Police Department posted on X.
Midair collision involved two small planes
Vincent Rizzi, a Marana Police Department sergeant, said the collision involved two smaller fixed-wing aircraft. The airport was closed and landing aircraft were being diverted to other airports, Rizzi said at the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a written statement that the agency was investigating a midair collision between a Cessna 172S and Lancair 360 MK II. The collision occurred about 8:28 a.m., the statement said.
According to preliminary information, the aircraft collided while upwind of runway 12. The Cessna landed safely. The Lancair crashed near runway 3 and a fire ensued, the NTSB statement said.
Rizzi said two people were aboard the plane that landed safely and they were not severely injured.
Airport official calls crash ‘unprecedented’
“On behalf of the Town of Marana and the Marana Regional Airport, our hearts go out to all the individuals and families impacted by this event,” Marana Airport Superintendent Galen Beem said in a written statement.
Beem called the collision “an unprecedented event” and said officials were grateful for the “swift response from the Marana Police Department and Northwest Fire District.”
Neither plane was based out of the Marana Regional Airport, said Amanda Gomez, a communications specialist at the Marana Town Manager’s Office.
The Northwest Fire District responded to the scene, Rizzi said.
The Marana Regional Airport is in a rural area surrounded by farm fields and desert brush.
Witnesses describe plume of smoke coming from crash site
Denye Woodard, a waitress at Skyrider coffee shop next to the airport, said she was working when a co-worker told her to look out the window. She saw a large plume of smoke on the other side of the airport.
“All we saw was a big cloud of black smoke,” Woodard said.
Woodard said she didn’t think it was a plane crash. But shortly after, she saw an ambulance and fire trucks arriving at the scene.
“Then I was like, ‘What is going on?'” Woodard said. She said customers then told her there had been a plane crash. “I was shocked. I was like, ‘Oh wow.'”
Justine Brent had just come out of a Fry’s supermarket when she noticed thick black smoke billowing in the distance.
She said she figured it was a plane crash, because controlled burns she has seen do not produce such thick black smoke.
She took several photos of the smoke, which she shared with The Arizona Republic.
Regional airport lacks air-traffic controllers
The Marana Regional Airport is an “uncontrolled field,” meaning the airport does not have an operating air traffic control tower, the FAA said in a written statement. At uncontrolled airports, pilots use a common traffic advisory frequency to regularly announce their position to other pilots who are in the airport vicinity, according to the FAA.
The pilot in command is responsible for maintaining safe separation from other aircraft. Pilots operating in uncontrolled fields are required to comply with all FAA regulations, including minimum visibilities, minimum safe altitudes and right-of-way rules, the FAA said.
Hathaway, the Marana communications manager, said the town announced in January 2020 that the airport had entered the FAA’s control tower program to build a crewed tower by the end of 2024.
However, due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was delayed and now is scheduled to be completed by March 2029, Hathaway said.
The airport mostly serves leisure flights, Hathaway said. She said the airport has experienced an increase in activity over the years, Hathaway said.
In 2024, the airport logged 85,000 operations, including takeoffs, landings and touch-and-goes, Hathaway said.
There are 259 aircraft based at the airport, she said.
The airport also is home to two flight schools, she said.
Officials from the FAA and the NTSB were expected to arrive later Wednesday to help with the investigation, Rizzi said.
The NTSB will lead the investigation, the FAA statement said.
Fatal collision follows a string of aircraft incidents
The collision in Marana is the latest in a string of incidents involving aircraft, including one on Feb. 10 at the Scottsdale Airport where a smaller Learjet 35A owned by Mötley Crüe
singer Vince Neil crashed into a larger Gulfstream aircraft, killing the
pilot of the Learjet.
On Monday, a Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped upside down while landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport, officials said. Eighteen of the 80 people on board were injured.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three people collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. Sixty-seven people were killed.
A small medical jet carrying a child patient crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood on Jan. 31, killing seven people, while a small plane carrying 10 people crashed in Alaska on Feb. 6, killing 10.
On Nov. 4, a business jet crashed into a vehicle near Falcon Field Airport in Mesa, killing five people, including four people on the plane and the driver of the vehicle.
Republic reporter Perry Vandell contributed to this article.
