Airplanes collided, exploded and fell into Lake CDA (Clark Fork: airport, car)

[mistyriver]

https://www.krem.com/article/news/pl...2-e01b1dc6b692

We were on the lake when it happened. Had been right there and luckily headed south ten or fifteen minutes before the crash.
What a terrible tragedy.

[banjomike]

I would think a collision over the lake would be hard to do. Such a sad thing!
I wonder what happened....

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

https://www.krem.com/article/news/pl...2-e01b1dc6b692

We were on the lake when it happened. Had been right there and luckily headed south ten or fifteen minutes before the crash.
What a terrible tragedy.

That's the kind of experience that makes you think hard about "luck," or "fate." Either way, so glad you're safe. It must have been a horrible sight. 3 children are among the victims.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

That's the kind of experience that makes you think hard about "luck," or "fate." Either way, so glad you're safe. It must have been a horrible sight. 3 children are among the victims.

Thanks, CFF. It’s heartbreaking.
So, so glad we’d left the area. My five year old grandson would have been so traumatized.

[oldcarguy49]

Both pilots were very experienced pilots.

[nm9stheham]

Small plane pilot here.... You'd be amazed how hard it can be to spot another airplane when flying and intentionally looking for it. Searching in all directions, plus high and low, for a speck in the sky is not at all like spotting another car on the same road when you already know where is should be.

If you are sightseeing or otherwise distracted, and not expecting another aircraft, you could easily not see it. And if one plane is above the other going in approximately the same direction, and one climbs or descends, then one crew will never see the other. I do not know if there is a common radio frequency for aircraft position announcements over that area.

Super low odds, but the odds/probabilities are not zero.

[Pilot1]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

Small plane pilot here.... You'd be amazed how hard it can be to spot another airplane when flying and intentionally looking for it. Searching in all directions, plus high and low, for a speck in the sky is not at all like spotting another car on the same road when you already know where is should be.

If you are sightseeing or otherwise distracted, and not expecting another aircraft, you could easily not see it. And if one plane is above the other going in approximately the same direction, and one climbs or descends, then one crew will never see the other. I do not know if there is a common radio frequency for aircraft position announcements over that area.

Super low odds, but the odds/probabilities are not zero.

I wonder if both planes and ADS-B (In/Out) with traffic alerts and if they were talking to ATC.

[nm9stheham]

Originally Posted by Pilot1

I wonder if both planes and ADS-B (In/Out) with traffic alerts and if they were talking to ATC.

I would guess (100% purely guessing) they were just on local pleasure flights VFR (which, for the non-pilots, means Visual Flight Rules, not normally under the supervision of Air Traffic Control). But that will all come out in the NTSB reports. Looks like it is not controlled airspace over much/most of the lake and the CdA airport is only Class E, so no ADS-B required out over the lake or around the CdA airport as far as I can tell.