Smoke is seen rising from the location of the scene.
Credit: X/@krassenstein
Two people were killed when two small planes collided in midair near a regional airport in southern Arizona on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The planes, a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II, each had two people on board when they collided just before 8:30 am near Marana Regional Airport in Marana, Arizona, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Afterward, the Lancair crashed near a runway, then caught fire, while the Cessna landed "uneventfully," the NTSB said in an emailed statement.
The two people aboard the Lancair were killed, while the two in the Cessna were unharmed, said Vic Hathaway, the town's communications manager.
The names of the people who were killed have not been released, but Hathaway said they were from out of town.
Marana Airport is an "uncontrolled field," meaning it does not have an operating air traffic control tower, but instead relies on pilots to use the common traffic advisory frequency to announce their positions to other pilots.
Marana was enrolled in a five-year program of the Federal Aviation Administration that was meant to help the town build an air traffic control tower by the end of 2024, Hathaway said. The construction was delayed because of the pandemic, and a new deadline was set for the end of 2029.
Hathaway said the town had been petitioning for a tower at the airport because the area was growing rapidly, and Marana Airport was also used to help relieve traffic from Tucson International Airport, which is about 30 miles southeast of their town.
The NTSB is investigating the collision, which came after a string of aviation accidents. In late January, a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet in Washington, killing 67 people. Most recently, a Delta Air Lines jet flipped over on the tarmac Monday while landing at the Toronto Pearson International Airport, though everyone on board survived.
Last week in Arizona, a small plane owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil veered off a runway at the Scottsdale Airport and struck a parked jet, killing a pilot and injuring three other people.