The weather from the Los Angeles International Airport was a fine and a good day for issuing assigned flights to the passenger aircrafts. As the flight went on, both airplanes left controlled airspace and one of the aircrafts was trying to avoid thunderclouds and the other aircraft was hoping to give the passengers a better look at the beautiful sights of Grand Canyon as they flew overhead. These maneuvers along with the cloud cover accumulated in the Canyon and not being able to communicate with air traffic control center resulted in a severe collision which makes the two aircrafts to suffer severe damage and plunged to the Grand Canyon floor at 700 ft/s. The high-octane gasoline from the two aircraft caused a huge explosion that added to the factors that no one can survived on such catastrophe.
In the report, it is said that the weather and the airworthiness of the two planes have no role in the accident. But the uncertainty regarding the high-altitude visibility at the time of collision was not possible to determine if there is an opportunity for the two aircrafts to see each other and avoid the mid-air collision (“CAB Accident Report”, 1956). Areas in this accident is prone to the uncontrolled airspace where communications from the ATC to the aircrafts are disrupted and being separated for a while until the pilot reached a point where ATC or a radio communicator range are accepted. The major area after Los Angeles where they were travelling the direct routes over the Grand Canyon was uncontrolled airspace at that time.
ICAO Annex 13 reflects the Standard and Recommended Practices covering any aircraft accident and takes the incident investigations when an accident associated caused fatality, and this accident is the worst plane crash in the aviation history at that time. The investigations and recovery are initially started even though the remoteness and the topography of the Grand Canyon can risk the health of the rescuers and investigators. It was recorded that investigators hires a group of Swiss hikers to assist the recovery operation which they are the experts in handling expeditions in mountains and cliff hiking. While the group of rescue operations are sent to the crash site and the possible sites where the pieces of aircraft can be found lying in the edges and bottom of the cliffs and ground of the canyon, another team was sent to investigates and interview the witnesses of the accident or find some people that saw the actual collision of the two aircraft. The Air force helicopter from the Search and Rescue team on a July 1, 1956 landed under the hazardous conditions at the Trans World Airlines crash site and it was very hard to enter the site due to the environment. Trial flights and planning is extremely the key to make it possible to land the helicopter and investigations and inspection is immediately started but unfortunately, no survivors have been found. Days are followed and the army units provide supplies to the people on crash sites even though the site was closely an inaccessible area. The wreckage of the United Airlines Flight 718 was found 1.2 statute miles north-east of the Lockheed constellation crash site and the aircraft is struck at the south face of Chuar Butte opposite of the Little Colorado river which was concluded that the impact was about 10 ft below the top of the ridge and the elevation is estimated at 4, 050 ft. It was simulated that the impact of the DC – 7 is initially on the northeast heading with its nosed down and the right wing is below the level attitude. Severe wreckage is seen to the DC – 7 and with the components are falling below the site.
No problems of aircraft failures are found on the two flights and the problem only started when the flight plan of the TWA Flight 2 and the United Airlines Flight 718 will cross at a certain distance and VFR is issued by the radio communicators to the pilots of the aircrafts. VFR or the Visual Flight Rules are a set of regulations under a condition that enable the pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions that are clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. In this manner, a common way to separate traffic was “See and Avoid Method” and this means that the pilots had to see each other aircrafts from their small cockpit windows and avoid them visually (“1956 Grand Canyon Crash”, 2011). At 9:21 am, TWA Flight 2 is approaching Daggett and request a 21,000 ft in the Los Angeles Center when they reach the climb of 19, 000 ft but is unable to get clear of the clouds so the captain is going to request the next altitude which would be 21, 000 ft. Since TWA Flight 2 is out of range of direct communication with the Los Angeles Air Traffic Control System, then the pilot calls the nearby radio communicator to communicate to the Los Angeles Traffic Control and they see a potential conflicts so they issued a rejection and they not authorized a climb to 21, 000 ft but due to the uncontrolled airspace, the controller can’t force the aircraft to stay there so this is the time when the pilot of TWA Flight 2 maintains a 1,000 ft VFR on top for 21, 000 ft and that’s the time where the pilot decide to climb 21, 000 ft and just visually look to other aircraft in the course of the flight route.
1956 is the year where aircrafts travel with no real time flight data report to the Air traffic Controllers and pilots in the aircrafts require to communicate to radio companies about their location and time of their arrival in every point of their flight route. There is no en route radar which we use today that makes the aircrafts tell their position and the real time data of the flight is presented which warns every aircraft nearby that an aircraft will approach at a said point of location and an estimated time so air traffic is very organize and can be manage easily with very less chance of accident and prone to anomalies of collision in mid-air. Some of the en route portions that was reached by the aircraft have no direct communication with the Air Traffic Control which requires a delay in time of requesting a position through the radio communicators before approval.
Alternatives
The mid-air collision would have been prevented if the aircrafts flight plan and the flight route where analyze in the Los Angeles ATC and suggest a delay in the flight of one of the flights. It’s the management of the ATC in handling air traffic to reduce the risk of flight accidents.
Photo from CAB Accident Report that shows the flight route of the two flights
The ATC that handled the TWA Flight 2 and the United Airlines Flight 718 should be careful that they proceed to issued the said flights that will meet in a certain point and noting that real-time flight data still not existed in the aviation industry. The radio companies the surrounds the area are the only way that the ATC can communicate directly to the pilots but in a unstable manner of communication due to the time of the response of one of the sides and the uncontrollable airspace that is present in the flight route of the two aircrafts (“CAB Accident Report”, 1956).
This accident will be prevented if technologies of the radar in use in the aviation industry is present to ensure a real-time flight data between the ATC and the pilot is secured in exchanging immediately while in flight. The requesting of positioning in this accident is the thing that also delays the right and correct judgement in the ATC and the pilots of the flight. VFR is very risky and dangerous because of the lack of radar and other equipment in the aircraft to detect if nearby aircrafts are approaching or very close in their distance limitation. The thing that really inappropriate in the accident is letting the 2 aircrafts meet in the same time and the same location and using only the “see and avoid” method on their small windows of their cockpit which is extremely dangerous because both aircrafts has no clues in what particular direction the other aircraft will appear and the visibility of the area of the accident in 21, 000 ft is limited only in the front of the aircrafts. The lack of radar in the aviation industry opens uncontrollable airspace which separates the pilot to all of the radio companies and the ATC which leaves him alone and based his decisions individually as he takes the flight route accordingly to the flight plan.