A midair plane collision that killed two people near Tucson comes a little over a week after a plane in Scottsdale crashed into another as it was landing, killing the pilot and injuring others onboard.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, a Cessna 172S and Lancair 360 MK II collided in midair near Marana Regional Airport at around 8:28 a.m. on Wednesday.
The Cessna landed “uneventfully” while the Lancair crashed near a runway before catching fire. Both of the Lancair’s occupants died while the Cessna’s didn’t suffer any serious injuries.
The NTSB will lead the investigation into how the collision occurred.
Here’s what we know about the collision so far.
How did the collision occur?
The midair collision is still under investigation by the NTSB.
The Marana Regional Airport is an “uncontrolled field,” meaning the airport does not have an operating air traffic control tower, the Federal Aviation Administration 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.
A full investigation will likely take one to two years to complete, according to the NTSB.
Will the airport get air traffic controllers?
Vic Hathaway, a spokesperson for the town of Marana, 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.
The airport mostly serves leisure flights, Hathaway said. She said the airport has experienced an increase in activity over the years.
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, which also has two flight schools.
What did witnesses see?
Denye Woodard, a waitress at a 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,” said Woodard. “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.
What aircraft crashes have occurred recently?
The collision in Marana is the latest in a string of incidents involving aircraft, including the 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 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.
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