Deadly 2022 air show crash in Texas was caused by a lack of proper planning, investigators say

WASHINGTON — The deadly crash of two vintage military planes at a 2022 air show in Texas was caused by a lack of proper planning to keep aircraft separated and relying instead on a “see-and-avoid strategy” by pilots, federal investigators said Monday.

A Bell P-63F fighter was descending and banking to the left when it clipped the left wing of a Boeing B-17G bomber from behind. All six people aboard the World War II-era planes — the pilot of the fighter and the pilot, copilot and three other crew members on the bomber — were killed.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Monday that the pilots’ visibility was limited by their flight paths, obstructions in the cockpits, and “the attention demands associated with the air show performance.”

The investigators said the probable cause of the accident was the lack of a briefing on aircraft separation by the show organizer and the “air boss,” who used binoculars and a two-way radio to direct pilots. Instead, they relied “on the air boss’s real-time deconfliction directives and the see-and-avoid strategy for collision avoidance,” investigators said.

The show was put on by the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving military aircraft. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The conclusions hewed closely to preliminary findings that the board issued in late 2022.

Aviation safety experts have said they were surprised that there was no briefing beforehand about keeping planes at separate altitudes, and that such planning occurs at other air shows. A person familiar with the show’s operations that day said pilots were given general directions on altitude during a pre-show briefing, but they did not discuss specific altitudes for each pass that the aircraft would perform.

The NTSB also faulted the Federal Aviation Administration for a lack of guidance for air bosses and air show organizers and requirements to continually evaluate air bosses and oversee their performance. The board said it would publish a final report Thursday.