The Grand Canyon Collision: Air Traffic ControlHow a scenic detour created modern flight tracking
From the show
Rules Written in BloodModern air safety regulations exist because the sky used to be an unregulated honor system. In 1956, two commercial airliners collided over the Grand Canyon while pilots attempted to give passengers a better view. This tragedy killed 128 people and exposed the dangers of visual flight rules. The disaster directly caused the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration and the centralized radar network that now monitors every commercial plane in the sky.
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