Disaster in the Skies: Private Jets Collide at Scottsdale Airport

According to authorities, at least one person was killed and others were injured when two private jets collided in Scottsdale, Arizona on Monday morning.

According to Kelli Kuester, the Scottsdale Airport’s aviation planner and outreach manager, a midsize plane collided with another midsize plane parked on private property. The Federal Aviation Administration said that the private plane involved in the collision had veered off the runway.

The runway has been closed and will remain closed “for the foreseeable future,” Kuester said.

The airport is a hub of jets coming in and out, especially during big sporting events, such as the Waste Management Open Golf Tournament that draws large crowds just a few miles away.

The Scottsdale collision follows a string of three major U.S. aviation disasters in the past two weeks. On January 29, a commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital, resulting in 67 fatalities. Just two days later, on January 31, a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia, claiming the lives of all six people on board and one person on the ground. Last week, tragedy struck again when a small commuter plane en route to Nome, Alaska, crashed in the western part of the state, killing all 10 passengers.