NTSB Releases Docket for Fatal Wings Over Dallas Airshow Midair

The trove of details includes more than 500 pages of witness interviews.

Monday, March 11, 2024 at 05:13 PM ET

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NTSB investigators at the scene of the midair collision between a Boeing B-17G and Bell P-63F at the Wings Over Dallas WWII airshow at the Dallas Executive Airport (KRBD) in November 2022. [Courtesy: National Transportation Safety Board]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB public docket for the 2022 Wings Over Dallas midair collision of a B-17 and P-63 reveals key details, including air boss transmissions, witness testimony, and photographic evidence, indicating a failure to maintain standard aircraft separation.
Preliminary information suggests normal airshow procedures for altitude deconfliction (fighters flying above bombers) were not followed, and the P-63 was directed into the B-17's path at the same altitude, obstructing the fighter pilot's view.
The air boss directed fighter and bomber formations to specific show lines, but acknowledged that the P-63 "shouldn't have been there," and no altitude deconfliction was briefed for the specific maneuver.
The NTSB's investigation is ongoing, and while the extensive docket provides factual information, it does not offer final conclusions or a probable cause determination, which will be released in a later report.

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“Knock it off! Knock it off! Roll the trucks! Roll the trucks!”

These words from the transcript of audio recordings of the air boss and airshow participant testimony gathered by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have shed new light on the fatal midair collision of a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, known as Texas Raiders, and a Bell P-63F Kingcobra at the Wings Over Dallas airshow on November 12, 2022.