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 has released a public docket containing extensive evidence, including audio and pilot testimony, shedding new light on the fatal midair collision of a B-17G and P-63F at the 2022 Wings Over Dallas airshow, which killed all six occupants.
The docket reveals that the P-63 flew at the same altitude as the B-17 and in a blind spot, contradicting standard airshow procedures that dictate several hundred feet of altitude separation between fighter and bomber formations.
Despite the air boss's responsibility to ensure separation, the preliminary investigation noted a lack of specific altitude deconfliction briefed for the flight, and the air boss stated he "never saw the P-63 roll in."

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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.