I read about a different midair collision, and what was interesting is that while it seems like one in a zillion chance, with the sky being so big, the way it happened seems much more plausible in hindsight.

An airliner saw a small plane, then lost track of it, and they assumed they had passed it. Due to a misunderstanding, ATC thought they had definitely passed it. But they hadn't; the assumption was mistaken.

The Captain said: "I think he's pass(ed) off to our right."

But 'due to radio static, Lindbergh tower voice recording reveals tower received "he's passing off to our right" '

Unfortunately, the airliner was descending, unable to see directly underneath them, and the small plane was there and presumably couldn't see directly above them, so that's how they collided.

It was, according to Wikipedia, witnessed by Whoopi Goldberg and caused her to develop a fear of flying:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Southwest_Airlines_Fli...

Not only was everybody on the airliner and the Cessna killed, but a bunch of people on the ground too.

I never saw anything like this, but due to growing up in the flight path of a regional airport, I had recurring dreams about this sort of thing, landing in the back yard.