PSA Flight 182 - Aftermath

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the devastation on the ground, a controversy renewed in San Diego over the placement of such a busy airport in a heavily populated area. Despite proposals to relocate it, San Diego International Airport, the busiest single-runway commercial airport in the U.S., remains in use.

At the time, PSA Flight 182 was the U.S.'s deadliest commercial air disaster, and it remains the worst in California's history. As mentioned above, the former distinction was surpassed eight months later on Friday, May 25, 1979, when American Airlines Flight 191 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-10) crashed in Chicago, Illinois. The crash of Flight 191 killed 273 people (all 271 on the plane and 2 on the ground) - nearly double the number of deaths caused by Flight 182's crash.

As a result of the crash, the NTSB recommended the immediate implementation of a Terminal Radar Service Area around Lindbergh Field to provide for the separation of aircraft, as well as an immediate review of control procedures for all busy terminal areas. However, this initial rule did not include small general aviation aircraft. Therefore, on May 15, 1980, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), implemented what is called Class B airspace to provide for the separation of all aircraft operating in the area. Additionally, all aircraft, regardless of size, are required to operate under "positive radar control," a rule that allows only radar control from the ground for all aircraft operating in the airport's airspace.

At the time of the crash, Lindbergh Field was the only airport in San Diego County with an Instrument Landing System. Since the Cessna pilot was practicing instrument landings, the FAA quickly installed the system at Montgomery and Gillespie fields, and at McClellan-Palomar Airport, in order to allow pilots to practice at smaller airports.

As a result of this and other mid-air collisions (including an almost identical one in 1986) the "Traffic Collision Alert and Avoidance System" (TCAS) is now installed in all commercial passenger aircraft and in most commercial cargo airplanes. It not only gives the pilots visual and audible warnings in the cockpit when two aircraft are approaching each other, but even goes so far as to direct pilots to either climb or descend to avoid the other aircraft.

Because the PSA 182/Cessna collision was the result of pilot error, it is used as a teaching aid in modern flight training. Some flight schools use the crash in "human factors" classes, others refer to it while teaching airspace or visual separation rules.

The midair collision contributed to Lindbergh Field airport being ranked 10th among the world's Most Extreme Airports in a two-hour documentary of the same name released in July 2010, which aired in the U.S. on the History Channel.