Survived a midair collision on September 29, 2006 when the wing of the private jet he was piloting collided with the wing of a Boeing 737 airliner flying in the opposite direction over Mato Grosso, Brazil. The airliner, Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, crashed killing all 154 passengers and crew members onboard while Sharkey and the six passengers on his private jet all survived. The accident, which triggered a crisis in Brazilian civil aviation, was the deadliest in Brazil's aviation history at the time. It remains the second-worst plane crash in Brazil, after TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crash of 2007.