NTSB Animation - In-Flight Collision During Air Show Accident Animation

Video Description

This animated reconstruction documents the in-flight collision between a Boeing B-17 and a Bell P-63 at the Wings Over Dallas air show put on by the Commemorative Air Force. The collision occurred about 1:22 p.m. central standard time on November 12, 2022, at the Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas. The sequence of events was reconstructed from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data and data recorded on an Avidyne unit in the B-17, air boss radio communication, video, and aircraft performance data. The animation includes audio replay of air boss radio communications and a transcript of the radio communications. The animation also includes audio narration. The animation begins with pictures of the two accident airplanes. A Google Earth satellite image of the airport is used to indicate the position of the air boss, the location of crowd, show lines along which the airplanes were expected to fly that were 500 feet and 1,000 feet from the crowd, and runway 13/31. The view zooms out to a wider-scale Google Earth satellite image of the airport and its vicinity; the image is rendered in grayscale to minimize contrast with the airplane ground tracks. The airplane ground tracks were derived from ADS-B or the B-17’s Avidyne data and are shown as colored lines extending to a symbol identifying the position of each airplane. The airplane positions are initially shown in a still image at 1:20 p.m. (or 13:20 using a 24-hour format) with ground tracks starting from 1:19:15 p.m. (13:19:15). A legend on the left side of the screen shows the nine airplanes being directed by the air boss listed in three blocks, which are labeled as a bomber group, a fighter formation and a revenue flight. Each airplane is correlated with a path presented as a separate colored line: magenta for the B-17 (the lead bomber); yellow for the B-24; purple for the SB-2C; green for the first B-25; no line is shown for the trailing B-25, which was not broadcasting position data; sky blue for the first P-51 (the lead fighter); blue for the second P-51; orange for the P-63; and brown for the PT-17. Symbols of the same colors indicate the current position of each airplane with the lines forming trailing ground tracks. The symbols for the colliding airplanes (the B-17 and the P-63) are circles; the symbols for the other airplanes are squares. Photographs of the nine airplanes are displayed sequentially in the center of the screen, with lines connecting the photograph to the legend entry for each airplane. Narration identifies each airplane with the full model designation, the common name and the radio call sign for the lead airplanes and the revenue flight. The bomber group was led by the accident B-17G Flying Fortress (Texas Raiders on the radio), followed by a B-24 Liberator, an SB-2C Helldiver, one B-25J Mitchell and a second B-25J Mitchell. The fighter formation was led by a P-51D Mustang (Gunfighter on the radio), followed by a P-51C Mustang, and the accident fighter, a P-63F Kingcobra. Last was the passenger-carrying revenue flight that landed on runway 31 shortly before the collision, a Boeing PT-17 (Quebec on the radio). Altitude above ground is shown in text next to the legend for the two colliding airplanes: the B-17 and the P-63. The time is shown in 24-hour format at the top of the screen. The transcript of the air boss radio communications is displayed in text on the right side of the screen. Audio of the radio communications between the air boss and the pilots begins about 13:19. Real-time animation of the airplane symbols and trailing ground tracks begins at 13:20, along with the air boss radio communications and transcript and updates to the altitude text data for the B-17 and P-63 in 10-foot increments. Leading up to the collision, the symbols for the airplanes move from south of the airport to the north and begin to turn west to fly parallel to runway 31. Altitude tags recording the altitudes of the B-17 and the P-63 are connected to the ground tracks of those airplanes at 13:21:25 (B-17 at 740 feet, P-63 at 1,600 feet) and at 13:21:45 (B-17 at 430 feet, P-63 at 540 feet). The location of the in-flight collision is highlighted with a red circle at 13:21:54, at an altitude of 220 feet above ground level. The animation is followed by a video of the collision taken from the area of the crowd. The video starts with the B-17 and the P-63 circled and labeled about 4 seconds before the impact. Five other airplanes are also visible in the video. The left bank of the P-63 obscured the pilot’s view of the B-17, and the B-17 pilot likely did not see the P-63 as it came from behind the B-17’s left wing. The video is stopped at the point of impact. All five people on board the B-17 and the pilot of the P-63 were fatally injured.