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DEN99LA047 · Swearingen SA226TC

5 Mar 1999 · Denver, CO, United States

Swearingen SA226TC and Swearingen SA226TC · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) while standing

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Event

NTSB case
DEN99LA047
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Aircraft 1 · Swearingen SA226TC

Aircraft type
Swearingen SA226
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N151SA
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Cheyenne Regional Jerry Olson Field (CYS), Cheyenne, WY
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Standing · engine(s) operating
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Collision between aircraft (not in flight)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Swearingen SA226TC

Aircraft type
Swearingen SA226
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N328BA
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo RIF · Rifle, CO
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Taxi
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Collision between aircraft (not in flight)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Minor

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not maintained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

N328BA was partially deiced at the ramp when they ran out of deicing fluid. The pilot asked the ramp crew to meet him at the deicing pad on the south end of the airport to finish deicing the aircraft. The pilot received taxi clearance and instructions to hold short on the taxiway, and to contact ground control. Prior to reaching the taxiway hold short lines, he received clearance to taxiway to the runway. He then realized he had forgotten to advise ramp control that he needed to deice the aircraft. According to the pilot of N328BA, at that time, he looked up and noticed that N151SA was stopped in front of him. N328BA then impacted N151SA, striking the tail section of N151SA, causing substantial damage to the left side of the fuselage extending from the cargo door aft. The pilot of N328BA stated in a telephone interview that while taxiing, he performed a brake test and observed no discrepancies. Immediately following the accident, a brake test was performed in the presence of the IIC and two FAA inspectors. The brakes were found to be operational. Toxicological examinations were performed on both pilots and the results were negative.

Probable cause

The pilot of N328BA's failure to maintain visual lookout while taxiing, causing the subsequent collision with N151SA.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DEN99LA047
Event ID
20001205X00305
Case number
DEN99LA047
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: d75525b02a6f004314b832263618ab5b1edab03572be03e75f75a00da1f5a386; retrieved 2026-09-18T16:58:34.878Z.