Experts say the positive outcome of the collision was a combination of luck and advanced life-saving technology.
“It’s very rare for me to be able to say ‘midair’ and ‘no fatalities’ in the same sentence,” said Joseph LoRusso, a Broomfield, Colorado-based aviation attorney and commercially rated pilot.
The damage to the Metroliner s rear fuselage was in the “perfect location,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at the Daytona Beach, Florida campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“If it was the flight deck: Bad outcome. The wings: Bad outcome. The tail: Bad outcome. It happened in the perfect place for the pilot to make it down,” he said.
Experts say the positive outcome of the collision was a combination of luck and advanced life-saving technology. “It’s very rare for me to be able to say ‘midair’ and ‘no fatalities’ in the same sentence,” said Joseph LoRusso, an aviation attorney and commercially rated pilot. The damage to the Metroliner s rear fuselage was in the “perfect location,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at the Daytona Beach, Florida campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “If it was the flight deck: Bad outcome. The wings: Bad outcome. The tail: Bad outcome. It happened in the perfect place for the pilot to make it down,” he said.
Experts say the positive outcome of the collision was a combination of luck and advanced life-saving technology.
“It’s very rare for me to be able to say ‘midair’ and ‘no fatalities’ in the same sentence,” said Joseph LoRusso, a Broomfield, Colorado-based aviation attorney and commercially rated pilot.
The damage to the Metroliner s rear fuselage was in the “perfect location,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at the Daytona Beach, Florida campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“If it was the flight deck: Bad outcome. The wings: Bad outcome. The tail: Bad outcome. It happened in the perfect place for the pilot to make it down,” he said.
‘Amazing’: Pilots, passenger unhurt after midair crash
Patty Nieberg
The Associated Press
DENVER The pilot of an airplane that collided with another midair near Denver requested emergency landing for engine failure, not knowing that his plane was nearly ripped in half, according to air traffic control audio. Miraculously, both planes landed and no one was hurt, officials said.
The planes were getting ready to land at a small regional airport in a Denver suburb on Wednesday when they collided, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and South Metro Fire Rescue.
The pilot that requested emergency landing was the only person aboard a twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner that landed at Centennial Airport despite major damage to its tail section. The plane is owned by Colorado-based Key Lime Air, which operates cargo aircraft.
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This image from CBS Denver shows a Key Lime Air Metroliner that landed safely at Centennial Airport after a mid-air collision near Denver on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Federal officials say two airplanes collided but that there are no injuries. The collision between a twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner and a single-engine Cirrus SR22 happened as both planes were landing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Key Lime Air, which owns the Metroliner, says its aircraft sustained substantial damage to the tail section but that the pilot was able to land safely. (CBS Denver via AP)
CBS Denver via AP
By PATTY NIEBERG