1969 Da Nang mid-air collision

The aircraft involved in the accident were an Air Vietnam Douglas C-54 Skymaster registered as XV-NUG and a United States Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II registered as 67-0393.^[1] The C-54 was carrying 77 occupants, including 71 passengers and 6 crew members, with the F-4 carrying two pilots.^[2]

The C-54's passengers were all Vietnamese with the exception of one passenger with Indian citizenship living in Saigon, while the crew consisted of three Chinese pilots and three Vietnamese flight attendants, including Captain Chen Yi, First Officer T. W. Liu, and Crew Chief W. M. Lee.^[3] The F-4's crew consisted of Colonel David Mellish, a deputy commander of the 366th Fighter Wing who was the pilot-in-command, and Major Cornelius A. Thomas who was serving as the navigator. In addition, the F-4's payload of bombs and rockets was used up entirely.^[4]

Da Nang Air Base is located 380 miles (610 km) northwest of Saigon. The air base was constantly in use by civilian and military aircraft and was at the time considered one of world's busiest airfields.^[4] The air base consisted of two parallel runways, runways 17 Left and 17 Right.^[2][4] The left-hand runway is used by commercial aircraft while the right-hand runway is used by military aircraft on missions.^[3]

On 20 September 1969, the Air Vietnam C-54 was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Saigon to Da Nang Air Base with a stopover in Pleiku, South Vietnam,^[2][1] while the F-4 had performed a combat mission and was on its way back to Da Nang Air Base.^[2] The C-54's flight from Saigon to Pleiku had been uneventful.^[1] Weather conditions, which were clear,^[5] included a high overcast with clouds scattered at lower altitudes, with visibility extending up to 10 miles (16 km).^[2]

At around 16:00, the air base's air traffic control (ATC) cleared both aircraft to land at its parallel runways, with the C-54 scheduled to land on runway 17 Left and the F-4 on runway 17 Right.^[5] However, the crew of the C-54 did not completely hear the ATC's instructions, either due to an incorrect interpretation of the ATC's instructions or overlapping communications, and instead believed that the message intended for the F-4, "You are cleared to land on 17-Right", was addressed to them. The C-54's crew subsequently responded by relaying, "Roger, 17-Right", which indicated that the crew believed the message was addressed to them.^[2] Following the reply, as the C-54 approached runway 17 Right, it strayed into the path of the F-4 which was also descending.^[5] At an altitude of 300 feet (91 m), both aircraft collided, with the F–4 tearing off the C-54's starboard horizontal stabilizer and left wing tip.^[3][5]

Following the collision, the navigator of the F-4 ejected and was injured after landing, with the remaining pilot successfully landing the aircraft at Da Nang Air Base,^[3][6] while the C-54 lifted its landing gear and attempted a go-around, but due to its missing stabilizer, it subsequently crashed into a paddy field, killing 69 of the 71 passengers and all 6 crew members, leaving both passengers injured.^[1][2][6] In addition, wreckage from the C-54 was spread over an area of around 200 yards (180 m) away from the village of Hoa An; two people from the village were killed and two others injured by flying debris.^[7]

U.S. helicopters, ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles were deployed to the scene shortly after the crash,^[7] with two helicopters arriving within two minutes.^[4] In addition, troops were ordered to the crash site by the country's military officials to prevent any looting from occurring.^[7] One of the C-54's propellers was found more than 100 yards (91 m) away in a paddy field.^[4]

The two survivors of the C-54 consisted of a 12-year-old boy and a man; both were found by American rescue teams, with the boy located in the tail section of the aircraft while the man was reportedly thrown out of the aircraft on impact.^[3][8] The boy was brought to the Da Nang civil hospital and was reportedly in good condition while the man was admitted to the air base's hospital in critical condition, having sustained head and leg injuries.^[3] The two victims on the ground consisted of a mother and her daughter.^[3]

The day after the crash, the United States Air Force and the South Vietnamese government opened a joint investigation into the collision.^[4] The collision was the first such occurrence to happen in Vietnam between a civilian aircraft and an American military aircraft.^[4]