The potential for a mid-aircollision is increased by miscommunication, mistrust, error in navigation, deviations from flight plans, lack of situational awareness, and the lack of traffic collision-avoidance systems. The 1956 Grand Canyon was a mid-air collision that happened on Saturday, 30 June 1956 at 10:32 am Mountain Standard Time. A United Airlines plane running as United Airlines Flight 718 hit another airplane owned by Trans World Airlines (TWA), operating as Trans World Airlines Flight 2. In this video I will cover some of the worst mid-airplanecollisions in history, highlighting the causes, aftermath, and lasting impacts of each disaster. The unfortunate reality is that airplanescollidewithbirds at an astonishing rate because almost everywhere wildlife and airports exist in close proximity to each other. How many of the collisions force pilots to land prematurely? Thousands of planes are struck by birdsinmidair every year. How can we prevent it from happening?birds with aeroplane in background. Thousands of birdscollidewithplanes each year [File: Petros Karadjias/AP Photo]. Maybe it will help us save lives in the event that it does, but we should be focused on preventing it altogether. Admittedly, the likelihood of a collision is still small, but we’ve seen what happens when a planecollideswithbirdsinmid-air, and it turns out that it’s nothing good. BirdCollideswith a Passing PlaneinMidAir. A Mid-AirCollision (MAC) is an accident where two aircraft come into contact with each other while both are in flight. Events where aircraft collide on the.How often do planescollide in the air? 1.1 Distribution by Year.