Nagano News Helicopter Collision
TV Shinshu Aérospatiale AS 350B and Nagano Broadcasting Systems Aérospatiale AS 350B · Mid-air collision due to pilot error on both aircraft
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 6
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
Aircraft 1 · Aérospatiale AS 350B
- Aircraft type
- Aérospatiale AS-350
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- JA9792
- Operator
- TV Shinshu
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Occupants
- 4
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 2 · Aérospatiale AS 350B
- Aircraft type
- Aérospatiale AS-350
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- JA9633
- Operator
- Nagano Broadcasting Systems
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Estimated position: Nagano (city), the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
On April 27, 1996, two Aérospatiale AS 350B news helicopters from television studios, TV Shinshu and Nagano Broadcasting Systems collided in mid-air over a mountainous area in Nagano, Nagano, Japan while reporting on a brush fire early that morning. All 6 occupants onboard both aircraft were killed.
Accident
Early that morning, TV Shinshu and Nagano Broadcasting Systems sent their news helicopters to cover the brush fire that had ignited recently in the mountainous and forested parts of Nagano. The first helicopter, JA9792, had one pilot, one mechanic, and two cameramen onboard. The second, JA9633, had one pilot and one cameraman. Both aircraft were flying at low altitudes, while also avoiding the smoke as well as other helicopters present at the time. However, at 5:42 AM UTC, JA9792 began to slow down, causing JA9633 to suddenly overtake it. It is believed that one of the pilots was not aware of the others position at the time, despite the weather being clear. Both aircraft collided and crash into the ground, killing all 4 occupants on the TVS helicopter and both on the NBS helicopter.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Nagano News Helicopter Collision” (revision 1375432271, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Nagano News Helicopter Collision
- Revision
- 1375432271 · 2026-09-17 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Nagano News Helicopter Collision" (page 84256733, revision 1375432271)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): Television stations flying their own news helicopters to film a fire: aerial work for the owners, not a service for hire. The article: "TV Shinshu and Nagano Broadcasting Systems sent their news helicopters to cover the brush fire"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.