2007 Zell am See mid-air collision

The mid-air collision near Zell am See in 2007 took place on 5 March 2007 at 10:53 a.m. CET, resulting in the deaths of eight individuals. The accident involved an Airbus Helicopters AS332 Super Puma operated by Helog and a privately owned Diamond DA20 light aircraft.

Both aircraft were operating under visual flight rules amid favorable weather conditions, with visibility around 50 km. The collision occurred at approximately , situated about northwest of Zell am See Airport. At the time, the helicopter was navigating the airport's traffic pattern, proceeding north-northeast, while the light plane was ascending through the same pattern. The impact led to the complete destruction of both vehicles.

An investigation by the Austrian Federal Department of Aviation's Air Accident Investigation Board determined that the main cause was the pilots' failure to detect each other in time, primarily due to cockpit configurations that restricted their visual fields. Contributing factors included difficulties in visual perception linked to the nearby mountain slope, which demanded pilot attention for terrain avoidance.

See also

• Inattentional blindness, a phenomenon where an individual fails to observe a visible but unexpected object because their focus is directed elsewhere.
• Change blindness, a perceptual effect characterized by missing alterations in a visual scene.

External links

• Inattentional Blindness, authored by Daniel J. Simons from UIUC