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A 1971 midair collision over California killed all 50 on an airliner
In 1971 a Hughes Airwest DC-9 collided midair with a Marine F-4 Phantom over California, killing 50 people.
On 6 June 1971, Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, departed Los Angeles bound for Seattle with several stops planned. At the same time a US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was returning from Nevada toward Marine Corps Air Station El Toro near Irvine.
The two aircraft collided in midair over the San Gabriel Mountains near Duarte. Fifty people aboard the airliner were killed in the crash.
Why it mattersDisasters like this drove the air-traffic separation rules that keep military and civilian aircraft apart today.
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