Eurocontrol: Negotiating Transnational Air Transportation in Europe

Abstract

On June 30, 1956, a United Airlines DC-7 collided with a Trans World Airlines (TWA) Lockheed “Connie” over the Grand Canyon in the United States. The accident killed all 128 people on the two craft, the greatest loss of life in any air crash of the time.¹ This major mid-air collision had an enormous impact on the public debate about air-traffic safety in the United States as well as in Europe, as press coverage shows.² The crash was caused by the inability of pilots of modern propeller-driven aircraft of the 1950s to stay clear of each other using the “see and be seen” principle. This rule was the basis for air traffic in vast areas outside clearly demarcated airways and zones around major airports of the United States, including the Grand Canyon area. Although this principle worked at slower speeds and lower altitudes, it was inadequate to separate the two four-propeller aircraft in the Grand Canyon crash. They flew at greater speed and higher altitudes where the atmosphere could be hazy on even an apparently clear day. Higher speed and increased traffic made air transportation more vulnerable.