Mid-Air Collision in Denver

Wolverine · January 24th, 2003, 18:12

I just heard on my local news that there was a mid-air collision between 2 "small" aircraft in Denver. They said it was in the area of 26th and Irving(??). Possibly, a single-engine and a twin-engine.

That's all I've heard so far. Is anyone familiar with that area? Is that a practice area? Is it in or under the Bravo??

I_Money · January 24th, 2003, 18:25

Rumour has it was between a 172 and a Navajo.

Eagle · January 24th, 2003, 18:42

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...69/detail.html

I_Money · January 24th, 2003, 19:19

And there was an aircraft crash here in Socal, it sliced the front of the house of!

iceman21 · January 24th, 2003, 20:20

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...69/detail.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Linky no workie Eagle!

flyitup · January 24th, 2003, 21:09

Man that's horrible...

What's almost eerie about it all is that my instructor and I were out practicing VOR holds today and nearly had a mid-air ourselves.

I was under the hood and he was my safety pilot. We were coming up on the VOR when a Tulsa Approach controller gave us the traffic warning. Before I could even say, "65748, looking for traffic", my instructor yells #### and pulls us back into a steep climb. We missed the other Cessna by a mere 20 feet or so. If it wasn't for that controller I wouldn't be typing this right now. I have the UPMOST respect for ATC personnel.

I find it interesting that there is only an average of 16 mid-airs per year. If that's the case there must sure be a lot of REAL close calls.

My condolences go out to those involved.

Timbuff10 · January 24th, 2003, 21:43

I was having a great day at the airport till I came home and saw that on the news when i walked in the door. Its a bad feeling! My heart goes out to their families.

It really ticked me off then when the local news channel decided to air some "witness" that talked about how he knew this was going to happen because airplanes are always flying over the area. He kept going on and on about how the local government should do something about all the airplanes flying around and how dangerous it is.

I'm thinking he should go walk a mile down the road and look at I-25 and complain about all the people that die on the interstate everyday. Maybe the roads are more congested than the airspace and we should limit the amount of cars that can be on the road.

Flying is one of the safest forms of travel and sometimes this kind of thing happens. It is sad but you are far more likely to have an accident on the way to the airport than when you are in the air. The news always has to put some kind of spin on the story, I was amazed that the word "terrorism" was never brought up.

Tim

Timbuff10 · January 24th, 2003, 21:51

Hmm,

Considering the type of aircraft that was in this accident, i got to thinking...

The ME aircraft had a low wing which makes it hard to see what is below you, and the Cessna has a high wing which can make it hard to see what is above you... Anyone think it would be possible that these two guys both had their views of each other blocked by their wings?

If the Cessna was below the twin then they could have been in each other's blind spots. I have never been in a twin before but I know the wing in a 172 can cause some problems of this nature.

From what the news was reporting, the 172 was practicing IFR which takes away at least one set of eyes from one aircraft. At 5:15 it was also still daylight when it happened

I guess we will wait and see what other info comes out of this.

sad, sad day- Tim

flyitup · January 24th, 2003, 22:01

I wonder if either aircraft was talking with an ATC facility at the time of the accident. I realize that ATC doesn't have to give traffic advisories to VFR aircraft, but they usually do, especially when the spacing is tight...

I_Money · January 24th, 2003, 22:18

We can speculate about blind spots, the setting sun, contact with the ATC, etc however lets leave it to the investigates to tell us what happened. We do understand a bit more about flight then the media, however we do not have the facts even to make an educated guess!

Parabellum · January 25th, 2003, 00:25

Having as much experience as I do flying in Denver airspace, I can say that it is rather congested. I ALWAYS contact Denver approach and stay on with them, even if I'm flying VFR. I typically get at least 2 or 3 traffic advisories from approach control on each leg I fly over the city.

From what I know about the area, its possible that this mid-air happened below the Bravo airspace, where contact with ATC is not required but strongly urged. I can't say for sure though because nobody has said what altitude the collision occurred at.

Its rather disturbing to me though as Centennial is where I origionally started my training. I don't yet know the tail number of the 172 involved in the collision, but its possible that I may have once flown it.

aviator · January 25th, 2003, 08:54

I also learned to fly from APA (anyone know if the 172 was from Aspen or wings?) It sounds as if it happened under the class B to the west of the city. This airspace can be fairly congested with airplanes transiting from APA to Jeffco. There is not a large amount of space due to the mountains on one side and class B overhead and to the east of the route.

Parabellum · January 25th, 2003, 11:12

There's also a VFR corridor that runs along the west side of I-25 that goes up to 7500 MSL. The 172 was going to Cheyenne, so its possible that they were flying that corridor, which runs right next to Jeffco's airspace. For that reason, I always ask approach for a high enough altitude that will allow me to remain above any departing or arriving traffic at Jeffco. It doesn't sound like the collision happened far from the Jeffco airport at all.

aviator1968 · January 25th, 2003, 13:26

I believe the 172 was from wings. There was a guy from Aspen on the TV . He indicated that it wasn't one of theirs.

The accident was between a 172 from KAPA going to JeffCo., and a Piper Cheyenne going from JeffCo. to KAPA. They were both under Bravo airspace, and were not in contact with ATC. At 5:17pm, the sun had set, but it was still light. However, that light after sunset changes the look of things. Kind of twilight, but not quite. I'm sure some of you know what that looks like from the air. I know that it's hell to see in that light on the road sometimes. The mountains seem to "suck up" the light after sunset.

I figure the 172 was a student/instructor with the student under the hood. Just a hunch, but it does make sense. It's a shame. My heart really goes out to the families.