5 killed as two planes collide in Warickshire

[jaffa]

Five people have been killed in a mid-air collision between two light aircraft in Warwickshire.
One plane came down close to Coombe Abbey, near Brinklow, three miles from Coventry Airport at 1140 BST, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.
The second aircraft crashed in nearby Brandon Woods.
Eyewitness Malcolm Collins told the BBC how "the smaller plane disintegrated immediately, and the right engine of the twin aircraft blew up".
One person in the first plane and four people in the second aircraft - all adults - were confirmed dead at the scene. Their identities have not yet been revealed.
Warwickshire police confirmed a Cessna 402 was one of the planes involved and possibly a micro-light and appealed for any witnesses to the crash to come forward. The debris from the aircraft "stretches across several miles", a spokesman said

Source

 

[pks00]

jeez!!!! thats bad

 

[jfish]

problem is light aircraft like these do not and can not afford to install the TCAS and all aviation authorities in Europe, USA state only commercial turbine-powered transport aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats require this as mandatory.

 

[daveleebond]

problem is light aircraft like these do not and can not afford to install the TCAS and all aviation authorities in Europe, USA state only commercial turbine-powered transport aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats require this as mandatory.

what is tcas (not wikki'd yet) i take its some kind of transponder system.

 

[jaffa]

what is tcas (not wikki'd yet) i take its some kind of transponder system.

Here you go dave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCAS

 

[daveleebond]

feel sorry for the dead but in this day and age it should be compulsory to have these systems.

if you cannot afford them, then don't fly.

 

[witchy]

The sky is a big place, it's big but it is also controlled.

Two questions.

1. Don't Pilots have eyes?
2. Don't these planes have computers on board to detect other air-crafts transponders?

 

[nara]

Don't these planes have computers on board to detect other air-crafts transponders?

One was a microlight, so that is unlikely.

We'll have to wait for the official report to find out what really happened, but judging by the news reports this morning, it looks as if the Cessna was cleared to land and the microlight collided with it as it was making its approach.