Mid-air Collision Results in a Miracle

A miracle happened over Alaska. Fox News reported that no lives were lost in a mid-air collision between two small planes near Anchorage.

Four passengers in a Cessna 206 float plane and the nine carried in a Piper Navajo were uninjured when the two planes collided at about 2300 feet. The planes were flying in opposing directions through a narrow mountain valley in Alaska. Neither pilot saw the other plane approaching head on.

The good news is that there was minimal damage and no injuries from the planes passing slightly one above the other. The float plane's floats hit the Cessna's tail. Both planes were flyable and landed safely in Anchorage.

So what caused the near disaster in the air? Visibility was not the problem; the skies were clear. Space was an issue; they flew in a valley only a quarter mile wide in some areas. Attention might have been wanting: the Cessna carried bear watchers (yes, passengers were looking for bears from the air); the Piper carried passengers to Anchorage. The pilots made no evasive maneuvers indicating that they just didn't see each other coming. Pilots and passengers were surprised to hear an unexpected bang from the collision.

It is hardly a surprise to people like myself, who wonder why pilots fly planes in anything other than ideal conditions. Although visibility was ideal, the space to fly in wasn't. It was limited. If I were a pilot, I wouldn't fly there. If I were a passenger, I would not have climbed aboard either airplane.

If I were any one of the people in those two planes, I would be thanking God for delivering a miracle.

Source:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/12/miracle-midair-collision-under-investigation/?test=latestnews