Another Aviation Incident Claims 2 Lives in Arizona

A fatal midair collision occurred at a regional airport in Arizona on Wednesday morning, leaving at least two dead. Fox News cites the NTSB as saying a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II collided at the Marana Regional Airport, northwest of Tucson. No details about what led to the collision or who the victims are have been released. The AP reports each plane had two people aboard, and while one plane managed to land, the other hit the ground near a runway and caught fire.

The AP notes the airport features two intersecting runways but is without an air traffic control tower; construction on a planned one was bogged down by the COVID pandemic. ABC15 reports that in the absence of an air traffic control tower, pilots rely on a common traffic advisory frequency to state their position to any pilots in the airport vicinity, with the pilot-in-command tasked with "maintaining safe operation from other aircraft." The crash comes on the heels of Monday's incident involving a Delta Air Lines flight, which flipped over while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport. (More plane crash stories.)