# Breaking News: This time two planes land safely in Colorado after dropping parts (due to collision) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951 "2021-05-12T22:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/1 "2021-05-12T22:35:21Z")
Two planes collided in mid-air south of Denver, and both managed to land safely. One with a huge chunk of its fuselage missing, and other came down on a parachute. Current report is no injuries in the air or on the ground. > **['This was amazing': No injuries after small planes collide in midair](https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/plane-collision-crash-cherry-creek-reservoir/73-79563af1-af84-482c-b3f8-f9b40d9378eb)** > > One of the planes deployed a parachute to soften its crash landing and the two people on board were not hurt. This picture! [![](https://media.9news.com/assets/KUSA/images/ba38e6b5-9ef7-4033-bb42-010f5838ef62/ba38e6b5-9ef7-4033-bb42-010f5838ef62_1920x1080.jpg) ](https://media.9news.com/assets/KUSA/images/ba38e6b5-9ef7-4033-bb42-010f5838ef62/ba38e6b5-9ef7-4033-bb42-010f5838ef62_1920x1080.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/2 "2021-05-12T22:40:23Z")
The middle fell off. That’s not very typical. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/3 "2021-05-12T23:08:03Z")
[But not the first time it happened.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243#/media/File:Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243_fuselage.png) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/4 "2021-05-12T23:12:44Z")
I was thinking more about the other ones. The ones the middle doesn’t fall off. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/5 "2021-05-13T00:24:22Z")
Radio matched with radar tracks up already here: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/f5tb2dVWJqc/maxresdefault.jpg "MIDAIR COLLISION ON FINAL APPROACH at Denver - Centennial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5tb2dVWJqc) Remarkably, Key Lime 970 (with that gaping hole) did not realize he’d been hit, calmly declared emergency thinking his right engine had failed. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/6 "2021-05-13T00:27:41Z")
It’s a shame there was a collision but I am very impressed and gratified by the engineering that allowed all human parties to escape unharmed. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/7 "2021-05-13T00:46:41Z")
I’ve never heard of an airplane with a parachute. Is that common? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/8 "2021-05-13T00:51:02Z")
Here you go > **[Ballistic Recovery Systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Recovery_Systems)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., doing business as BRS Aerospace (and commonly referred to as simply BRS), is a manufacturer of aircraft ballistic parachutes. > The company was formed in 1980 by Boris Popov of Saint Paul, Minnesota, after he survived a 400-foot (120 m) fall in a partially collapsed hang glider in 1975. As a result, Popov invented a parachute system that could lower an entire light aircraft to the ground in the event of loss of ... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/9 "2021-05-13T00:59:02Z")
Becoming very common for light planes. I first heard of this around 1990 and got to talk to a pilot who did a test landing with the device. At that time the parachute assembly was mounted under the plane to the hard points used for the landing gear. Once the parachute successfully deployed without snagging on anything it had to let down the plane upside down without starting to swing like a pendulum. If it started swinging like that it might hit the ground on the downswing which wouldn’t be much better than no parachute at all. The landing was totally successful. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-news-this-time-two-planes-land-safely-in-colorado-after-dropping-parts-due-to-collision/941951/10 "2021-05-13T01:11:52Z")
I hear some planes are built so the middles don’t fall off at all…