On October 3rd Rene Thomas of France in an Antoinette monoplane collided with Captain Bertram Dickson of the British army in a Farman biplane by ramming him in the rear; both pilots survived but Dickson was so badly injured he never flew again.

Yes, there have been several tragic mid-air collisions in aviation history that have led to massive safety overhauls. The deadliest occurred on November 12, 1996, over Charkhi Dadri, India, when Saudia Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 collided, resulting in 349 fatalities. Another seminal event was the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision between a United Airlines DC-7 and a TWA Super Constellation; this disaster was the primary catalyst for the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the implementation of a more rigorous Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. In 2026, such incidents are exceedingly rare in commercial aviation due to the universal adoption of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which provides pilots with automated "resolution advisories" to climb or descend if another aircraft is too close. While small private planes occasionally have close calls in uncontrolled airspace, the integration of ADS-B technology has significantly reduced the risk of mid-air accidents in the modern era.