Quincy’s Deadly Plane Collision Occurred 21 Years Ago Today
Today (November 19) marked the 21st anniversary of the deadly collision of two aircraft at Baldwin Field in Quincy which led to the deaths of 14 people. United Express Flight 5925 with twelve passengers on board collided with a King Air aircraft with two people on board. The United Express flight was landing and the King Air was taking off. They collided at an intersection of the two runways involved with no survivors. The United Express was arriving from Burlington, Iowa after taking off earlier from Chicago. Another aircraft, a small Cherokee plane was also waiting to takeoff at the time of the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was the King Air pilots' failure to effectively monitor both the common frequency and to scan for traffic. A contributing factor was the Cherokee's transmission at the same time as the United Express transmission.