AIRCRAFT MISSING HALF WING UPGRADE

On December 28, 1978, United Flight 173, a DC-8 approaching Portland, Oregon, with 181 passengers, circled near the airport for an hour as the crew tried in vain to sort out a landing gear problem. Since then, no small plane has collided with an airliner in flight in the U.S.

The FAA subsequently required small aircraft entering control areas to use transponders, or electronic devices that broadcast position and altitude to controllers.Īdditionally, airliners were required to have TCAS II collision-avoidance systems, which detect potential collisions with other transponder-equipped aircraft and advise pilots to climb or dive in response. However, further improvements would be implemented after a small private plane wandered into the Los Angeles terminal control area on Aug, striking an Aeromexico DC-9 and killing 86 people. The crash also triggered the creation of the Federal Aviation Agency (now Administration) in 1958 to oversee air safety.

AIRCRAFT MISSING HALF WING UPGRADE

The accident spurred a $250 million upgrade of the air traffic control (ATC) system, which cost serious money in those days. All 128 passengers and crew aboard both flights were killed.

In the skies above the Grand Canyon on June 30, 1956, two planes that had recently taken off from Los Angeles International Airport-a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 headed to Chicago and a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation on its way to Kansas City-collided. Upgrade: Collision avoidance and a better Air Traffic Control

Aircraft missing half wing