Two planes that collided in midair near Denver, Colorado both landed safely with zero injuries.
The planes were flying into a small regional airport in a suburb of Denver on Wednesday, when they flew into each other, the Associated Press reports. The pilot of a Colorado-based Key Lime Air plane asked for an emergency landing due to engine failure, completely unaware that his aircraft had almost been split apart.
The Key Lime Air pilot, who was flying a cargo aircraft, was traveling by himself and didn’t have any passengers. “Looks like the right engine failed so I’m gonna continue my landing here,” the pilot said to traffic control at Centennial Airport.
The other plane was a Cirrus aircraft rented by Independence Aviation, which is capable of deploying a parachute. The pilot was able to successfully operate the parachute during the incident and safely landed with his one passenger in a field in Arapahoe County.
“Every one of these pilots needs to go buy a lottery ticket right now,” Sheriff’s Deputy John Bartmann said. “I don’t remember anything like this—especially everybody walking away. I mean that’s the amazing part of this.”
Centennial Airport is one of the most active general aviation airports in the state. The National Transportation Safety Board took to Twitter to reveal that it is investigating the collision.
