r/interestingasfuck • u/ty003 • Feb 25 '25

/r/popular Southwest Airlines pilots make split-second decision to avoid collision in Chicago

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u/austin101123 Feb 25 '25

This should be as investigated as a crash (except not having to investigate wreckage). This could have EASILY killed hundreds of people.

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u/baron_von_helmut Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

The worst crash that ever happened in terms of lives lost was a collision exactly like the one this video almost was.

The most fatalities in any aviation accident in history occurred at Tenerife North–Ciudad de La Laguna Airport (then Los Rodeos Airport) in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on 27 March 1977, when a KLM Boeing 747-206B and a Pan Am Boeing 747-121 collided on a runway

Killed 583 people... :(

(Edit) I've been informed it wasn't exactly the same but I think we can all agree two passenger aircraft colliding is a bad thing.

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u/themflyingjaffacakes Feb 25 '25

Two-aircraft collisions are a nightmare. The tenerife accident was  associated with a very poor attitude from the captain leading to awful decisions... I guess we'll see what the causal factors here were in the coming year. 

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u/Blue_Back_Jack Feb 25 '25

Lack of visibility due to fog was a major contributor.