Has there been a case of a mid-air collision or a near-miss outside of the terminal approach areas, just in the middle of airspace nowhere? Seems like all such cases I’ve heard about were near airports during approach or takeoff.
Yes, I recall this one, over the Grand Canyon, but I’m sure there have been others.
http://www.aircraftarchaeology.com/twa_united_airlines_grand_canyon.htm
They are probably more common to military aircraft as they frequently fly in formation and/or are involved in high speed maneuvers in close proximity.
There was the collision between a DHL cargo plane and a Russian passenger jet over southern Germany a few years back. Swiss air traffic control got the blame, and the poor guy who was on duty was later murdered by the father of some of the schoolchildren who died in the accident. The controller’s instructions to the two planes had contradicted those given by the on-board collision avoidance systems.
On 13 September 1997 a USAF C-141 B and a German Air Force TU-154 collided over the Atlantic, off Namibia (33 fatalities). Reports said the flight plan for the German plane stated a wrong altitude to use. Berlin ground staff were blamed for preparing the wrong plan, and ATC in Luanda, Angola for not noticing both planes using the same flight level.
Most recently, there was the September 2006 air crash between a Boeing 737 airliner and an Embraer executive jet, which took place in the middle of nowhere over the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.