NYC94FA075 · Cessna 152
Nassau Flyers Cessna 152 and Piper PA-24-250 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC94FA075
- 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 · Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N757KN
- Operator
- Nassau Flyers
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Republic Airport (FRG)To 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 · Piper PA-24-250
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-24
- 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
- N5231P
- Operator
- Robert M. Alexander · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Town of East Hampton Airport (HTO), East Hampton, NYTo 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Control tower service, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AN INSTRUCTOR (CFI) & DUAL STUDENT WERE ON AN INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT IN A CESSNA 152, N757KN, WHILE A PRIVATE PILOT & PASSENGER (WITH A STUDENT PILOT CERTIFICATE) WERE ARRIVING IN A PIPER PA-24, N5231P. THE TWO AIRPLANES COLLIDED IN MIDAIR ABOUT 1 MILE ON FINAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 19. BOTH FLIGHTS WERE IN RADIO CONTACT WITH THE CONTROL TOWER (ATCT). THE CESSNA 152 WAS IN A RIGHT TRAFFIC PATTERN, WHILE THE PA-24 WAS IN A LEFT PATTERN. AFTER THE PA-24 PILOT REPORTED ENTERING DOWNWIND, ATCT TOLD HIM THAT HE WOULD BE TOLD WHEN TO TURN BASE LEG. ATCT SUBSEQUENTLY SEQUENCED THE PA-24 TO LAND BEHIND THE CESSNA 152; HOWEVER, THE PA-24 PILOT WAS NOT ISSUED A SEQUENCE NUMBER AS REQUIRED BY FAA PROCEDURES. A CESSNA 210 (THAT THE PA-24 WAS INITIALLY FOLLOWING) WAS IN A LEFT PATTERN, BUT SEQUENCED AHEAD OF THE CESSNA 152. WHILE ON DOWNWIND ABOUT 5 MILES FROM THE AIRPORT, THE PA-24 PILOT WAS ADVISED OF 'CESSNA' TRAFFIC ON FINAL. THE PILOT REPLIED THAT HE DID NOT HAVE THE TRAFFIC IN SIGHT & THAT HE WAS LOOKING. ATCT THEN INSTRUCTED THE PA-24 PILOT TO TURN BASE LEG, WHICH WAS ACKNOWLEDGED. THIS WAS THE LAST COMMUNICATION WITH THE PA-24 PILOT. THE LAST COMMUNICATION WITH THE CESSNA 152 PILOT OCCURRED AFTER THE FLIGHT WAS CLEARED FOR A TOUCH-&-GO LANDING BY ATCT. RECORDED RADAR DATA SHOWED THE PA-24 OVERTOOK THE CESSNA 152 ON FINAL APPROACH. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE COLLISION INVOLVED THE BOTTOM OF THE PA-24 & THE TOP OF THE CESSNA 152.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE LOCAL TOWER CONTROLLER TO ADEQUATELY CONTROL THE ARRIVAL OF THE AIRPLANES, AND INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE PIPER PA-24 PILOT. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE LOCAL CONTROLLER'S IMPROPER PHRASEOLOGY IN SEQUENCING THE AIRPLANES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC94FA075
- Event ID
- 20001206X01167
- Case number
- NYC94FA075
- 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: 773836afa8f0be3c16a05e064e08de6f6215017fec1fc51fa7281090953d84b1; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:11:58.738Z.