Hughes Airwest Flight 706 - Aftermath

Aftermath

Congressmen Sherman P. Lloyd (R-Utah) and Henry Reuss (D-Wis) both decried the actions of the Marine jet fighter, which media indicated had been "stunting" prior to the collision. Lloyd said that military aircraft should be required to establish contact with air traffic controllers when entering high-traffic air corridors and around airports, while Reuss advocated the complete ban of military aircraft from any high-traffic civilian air corridors. Senator Frank Moss (D-Utah) sponsored a bill in December that would require the installation of anti-collision gear on all aircraft by 1975.

VFR and the "see and be seen" doctrine faced sharp criticism in the press. Oscar M. Laurel, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team investigating the crash, was widely quoted saying that now "may be a good time to take another look" at VFR flights near metropolitan areas.

The validity of the "see and be seen" doctrine as a safe means of aircraft navigation was a point of contention between the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The NTSB had faulted the doctrine in several earlier collisions, including the 1969 collision of Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 with a privately owned Piper PA-28 and the 1967 collision of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 with a privately owned Cessna 310. The FAA refuted these findings and insisted that, regardless of the mode of operation, it is the duty of the aircraft pilot to be aware of any aircraft in his immediate vicinity. The collision of Flight 706 and the Marine F-4B Phantom was the first fatal crash in the United States of a scheduled commercial airliner since the September 1969 collision of Allegheny Airlines Flight 853.

In March 1971, the NTSB released a report summarizing the findings of a study of midair collisions. The report indicated that 204 of 396 fatalities in U.S. jetliner crashes since 1967 had occurred in mid-air collisions. Additionally, near-miss situations involving jetliners occurred on average at least once per day, with the Los Angeles and New York noted as being especially high-risk. Finally, the report noted that the current trend in air casualties indicated that a further 528 people would die in mid-air collisions within the next ten years. These figures did not include the casualties from Flight 706.

A FAA study in 1968 had found that a quarter of the 2,230 near-miss aircraft encounters reported that year had involved a military aircraft. Following the in-flight collision of Flight 706, the FAA and the US Military agreed to cut down on VFR flights and operate instead under IFR. This transition would require military aircraft to file flight plans and obey civilian air traffic controllers.

Shortly after the collision, on June 21, 1971, the Airline Pilots Association and Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization issued a joint statement asking the FAA for a series of safety regulations that included a speed limit of 250 knots (290 mph) for aircraft operating under VFR. Other demands included the installation of transponders in all aircraft, to amplify aircraft's presence on radar screens, and the re-evaluation of VFR due to the increased complexity, congestion, and speed of modern air travel.

The New York Times reported that the incidence of deaths in commercial aviation accidents had risen sharply in 1971, up from 146 deaths in 1970 and 158 deaths in 1969. Additionally, these deaths had occurred at a time when airlines were cutting back flights due to the economic recession, and airlines had flown about 6% fewer hours in 1971 than 1970. The eight fatal accidents of 1971 included three mid-air collisions and four landing approach crashes. Additionally, 1971 saw the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 1866, at the time the worst single plane crash in US civil aviation history.