Disasters: Collision Over the Canyon

The morning was calm and clear--a perfect day for aerial sightseeing over the Grand Canyon. But by 9:30, 25 tourists had perished after two aircraft collided in midair about one mile south of the gorge's north rim. There were no survivors.

The aircraft, a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter with five aboard and a twin- engine de Havilland Otter carrying 20 others, are owned by two of the 40- odd firms that run aerial tours of the canyon. Sightseeing flights are the bane of local environmentalists, who hate the noise, and air-safety experts, who say that too much traffic crowds the canyon's skies. The National Park Service estimates that more than 50,000 flights are made over the 277-mile- long canyon annually. Last week's accident brings to 57 the number killed in 14 crashes around the canyon over the past five years. Yet two days after the disaster, tourists were again queuing up for the spectacular flights.