Both Damaged Airplanes Land Safely

It's one of those rare times when the news of a mid-air collision does not include the words "serious" or "fatal" injury. And perhaps even more rare because the airplanes touched in a remote area of Alaska.

Piper Navajo File Photo

A Piper Navajo with a pilot and eight passengers on board was flying through Lake Clark Pass in Alaska on Sunday when it collided with a Cessna 206 floatplane at about 2,300 feet. The vertical stabilizer of the Navajo was slightly damaged, as was one of the floats on the Cessna, which had four people on board. Both aircraft landed safely in Anchorage, and no one was injured.

The Seattle Times reports that one of the passengers aboard the Navajo, Karen Smith of Issaquah, WA, said that she heard a loud bang, and the airplane shuddered. One of the other passengers shouted that they had hit an eagle, but it turned out to be something much bigger.

The pilot asked Smith's husband Matt to inform the other passengers that they would be making an emergency landing. The pilot did not inform the passengers that there had been a mid-air collision until after they had landed and could see the damage to the vertical stab.

Cessna 206 Floatplane File Photo

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said that "The odds of a midair collision are very much against you. Even coming in contact, I can't believe there was so little damage."

Neither pilot reportedly saw the other aircraft before the accident occurred.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov