Gran Canaria mid-air collision
Spanish Air Force McDonnell Douglas EF-18 and Spanish Air Force McDonnell Douglas EF-18 · Human error in trajectory coordination
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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- Military
Aircraft 1 · McDonnell Douglas EF-18
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas EF-18
- Category
- Airplane · 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
- C.15-78
- Operator
- Spanish Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 2 · McDonnell Douglas EF-18
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas EF-18
- Category
- Airplane · 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
- C.15-74
- Operator
- Spanish Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 1
- 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
- Not stated
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Gran Canaria mid-air collision was an aviation accident that occurred on 16 June 2009 when two McDonnell Douglas EF-18 Hornet fighters of the Spanish Air Force collided in the airspace of the Delta 69 manoeuvring area about 60 miles southwest of Gran Canaria, within the jurisdiction of MACOM (Air Combat Command) during an electronic warfare training exercise.
Accident
The aircraft involved were two McDonnell Douglas EF-18 Hornets belonging to Wing 46 of the Spanish Air Force. The fighter formation was flying at an approximate altitude of 10,000 metres (FL290) when, during a tactical manoeuvre, the two aircraft crossed on a converging trajectory. Minutes later, the squadron leader reported the simultaneous disappearance of both aircraft from the radar systems, which confirmed the hypothesis of a mid-air collision.
The impact was violent enough to disintegrate the aircraft in the air. The wreckage of the fighters plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, sinking rapidly in the designated training area. The first official reports ruled out adverse weather causes, pointing instead to a possible human error during the execution of the manoeuvres as the most likely origin of the accident.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
After the accident, the Air Force set up an investigation commission with the aim of clarifying the causes of the collision. The initial work focused on the analysis of the wreckage recovered from the sea and on the statements of the surviving pilots, as well as on the mission communication records.
The first conclusions indicated that the weather conditions were optimal, ruling out external factors such as visibility or turbulence. The focus of the investigation turned to the execution of the tactical manoeuvres in formation, since the two EF-18s were carrying out advanced air combat training at high altitude. The strongest hypothesis pointed to a human error in trajectory coordination, which would have caused the aircraft to intersect during a simulated attack turn.
The internal report highlighted that both pilots had more than 700 flight hours on the EF 18, which reduced the possibility of an error due to inexperience, although it did not rule out a momentary lack of coordination in the dynamics of the manoeuvre. No evidence of serious mechanical failures was found in either aircraft before the collision.
The case was closed attributing the accident to a loss of separation in flight during a complex training exercise, considering the human factor as the most probable cause.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Colisión aérea de Gran Canaria” (revision 175246104, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Spanish Wikipedia article: Colisión aérea de Gran Canaria
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 175246104 · 2026-09-07 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q136333029
- 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
- es Wikipedia article "Colisión aérea de Gran Canaria" (page 11307472, revision 175246104), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Spanish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.