AOPA’S AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE RELEASES EARLY ANALYSIS: WINGS OVER DALLAS MIDAIR VIDEO
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute (ASI) released a new video from its Early Analysis series providing an initial examination of a recent tragic accident.
On November 12, 2022, a Bell P–63F Kingcobra and a Boeing B–17G Flying Fortress collided midair during the 2022 Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas WWII Airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Texas. No one on the ground was injured. Sadly, all six people aboard the two airplanes died in the crash.
“In Early Analysis: Wings over Dallas Midair, the AOPA Air Safety Institute wants to help pilots understand what is known about the accident as we look at factors that are likely to be a subject of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board," said AOPA's ASI senior vice president Richard McSpadden.
McSpadden continued, “Airshows use deconfliction plans to flow traffic through show lines in front of the crowd. From video footage and eyewitness accounts, it appears that one of the two airplanes did not adhere to its prep-briefed show line. The P-63 flew a continuous-banked turn as it approached the show line and collided with the B-17, which was on a straight and level flight path.”
“Once again, we see the danger of an extended, banked turn to roll out on a projected flight path—especially risky in a low-wing aircraft coming in high to low where you are completely blinded to the flight path below you,” McSpadden concluded.
Early Analysis videos provide an initial assessment of prominent mishaps that generate large public interest and may indicate important safety lessons for the general aviation community.
View the video here.
View other Early Analysis videos here.
