At least two persons were killed Wednesday morning in southern Arizona in a midair crash between two light planes, according to police.
Two passengers were on board each aircraft when they collided close to Marana Regional Airport on the outskirts of Tucson, according to federal air safety investigators.
Based on initial information before its investigators arrived, the National Transportation Safety Board said that one jet landed without incident, while the other struck the ground close to a runway and caught fire.
Following their response to the collision, the Marana Police Department verified two fatalities. A police spokesman received a contact from the Associated Press asking for more information.
One of two pilots of Mtley Cr e singer Vince Neil’s private plane perished last week in Arizona after it strayed off a Scottsdale runway and collided with a business jet.
In the past month, there have been four significant aircraft accidents in North America. Most recently, a commuter plane crashed fatally in Alaska, while a Delta flight turned on its roof during landing in Toronto.
The United States’ greatest aviation tragedy since 2001 occurred in late January when an Army helicopter crashed into an American Airlines aircraft, killing 67 passengers on board. The collision occurred in Washington, D.C. A medical transport plane carrying a young patient, her mother, and four other people crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood on January 31st, just one day later. The plane exploded in a firestorm that devoured multiple homes. Seven persons, including everyone on board, were killed in that disaster, while 19 others were injured.
Despite having two intersecting runways, Marana’s airport does not have an air traffic control tower.
A multimillion-dollar tower construction project was in progress, but the COVID-19 epidemic caused delays that caused the project to be delayed. Every year, tens of thousands of planes land and take off from the airport.
By Sejal Govindarao and Morgan Lee The Associated Press
Govindarao reported from Phoenix, while Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Journalist Susan Montoya Bryan of the Associated Press in Albuquerque, New Mexico, also made a contribution.
