Poor planning and inadequate communication led to the deaths of six people in a 2022 mid-air plane collision, the National Transportation and Safety Board announced Monday.
The report caps two years of investigation by federal authorities into the incident, which has also spawned several pending civil lawsuits from relatives of the six people who died in the fiery collision.
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The crash occurred when two Word War II-era planes were completing a repositioning turn during the Wings Over Dallas airshow, killing the five people aboard a Boeing bomber and the sole occupant of a Bell fighter. No one on the ground or in any of the six other aircraft involved in the show was hurt during the incident.
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When federal investigators modeled the flight paths and conducted a visibility simulation study, they determined the pilots involved had a limited ability to see and avoid the crash, according to a news release.
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The investigators concluded the absence of an aircraft separation plan at the pre-briefing contributed to the crash, as well as a lack of administrative planning to address other “predictable risks.”
The news release did note that while a plan to “ensure vertical or lateral separation” of the planes was not discussed at the briefing, one was not required by regulations at the time.