FTW94FA102 · Taylorcraft DCO-65
Taylorcraft DCO-65 and Interstate S-1B1 · Accident: midair collision while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW94FA102
- 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
- 4 · 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
- General aviation
- 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 · Taylorcraft DCO-65
- Aircraft type
- Taylorcraft DCO-65
- 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
- N596BH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Interstate S-1B1
- Aircraft type
- Interstate S-1
- 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
- N46951
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From No airportTo No airport
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THREE AIRPLANES, A TAYLORCRAFT (L-2), AN INTERSTATE (L-6), AND A PIPER (L-3) WERE FLYING A PHOTOGRAPHIC FORMATION FLIGHT THAT WAS PLANNED AND BRIEFED. THE BRIEF CALLED FOR THE L-6 TO LEAD THE FLIGHT WITH THE L-2 FLYING IN THE LEFT WING POSITION AND THE L-3 IN RIGHT WING FORMATION WITH ABOUT A TWO WING SPAN SEPARATION. THERE WAS NO PLAN FOR ANY SIGNALS BETWEEN PILOTS. A PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE L-6 WAS TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE L-3, WITH THE CITY IN THE BACKGROUND. THE FORMATION HAD EXECUTED TWO LEFT HAND ORBITS, WITH THE L-2 INSIDE THE TURNS, WHEN THE LEAD AIRPLANE INITIATED ANOTHER LEFT TURN. DURING THAT TURN, THE L-2 COLLIDED WITH THE L-6. THE THIRD AIRPLANE WAS NOT INVOLVED. THE LEFT WING SEPARATED FROM THE L-6 AND THE EMPENNAGE OF THE L-2 WAS DAMAGED. FOLLOWING THE COLLISION BOTH AIRPLANES WENT OUT OF CONTROL AND IMPACTED THE GROUND.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE TAYLORCRAFT PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE CLEARANCE DURING FORMATION FLIGHT. A FACTOR WAS THE OTHER PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING AND PREPARATION REGARDING INFLIGHT FORMATION PROCEDURES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW94FA102
- Event ID
- 20001206X00893
- Case number
- FTW94FA102
- 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: eedbc7c56963582b1d709d8d42a5694fecd203b04a5dd51a8e4779e6ac0e600f; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:12:54.591Z.