CHI95FA126 · Cessna 150M
Cessna 150M and Beech V35B · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI95FA126
- 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 150M
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N45457
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dupage Airport (DPA), West Chicago, ILTo 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 · Beech V35B
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- 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
- N1HK
- Operator
- John Kuranz
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake Lawn Airport (C59), DELEVAN, WITo 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
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Flight advisories, not issued
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Oshkosh, WI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AT 1417:23 CDT, THE PILOT OF CESSNA 150, N45457, CONTACTED THE TOWER AND REPORTED THAT HE WAS 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE AIRPORT AND INBOUND (FOR LANDING). THE TOWER CONTROLLER (CTLR) CLEARED THE PILOT TO ENTER A LEFT BASE FOR RUNWAY 36 AND TOLD HIM TO REPORT 3 MILES SOUTHWEST (OF THE AIRPORT). AT 1419:30, BEECH V35B, N1HK, CONTACTED THE TOWER AND REPORTED INBOUND, 18 MILES SOUTH (FOR LANDING). THE CTLR CLEARED THE V35B (TO CONTINUE) FOR A STRAIGHT-IN APPROACH TO RUNWAY 36 (BUT DID NOT CLEAR THE V35B TO LAND). ONE OF THE V35B PILOTS ACKNOWLEDGED THE CALL, THEN THERE WAS NO FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH THE V35B. AT 1422:54, THE CESSNA PILOT REPORTED THAT HE WAS 3 MILES SOUTHWEST 'STARTING A BASE' AND WAS CLEARED TO LAND. THE TOWER WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH A D-BRITE SCOPE (RADAR SCREEN REPEATER); BUT LATER, RADAR NTAP DATA AT THE GREEN BAY STATION REVEALED THAT THE TWO AIRPLANES CONVERGED AS THEY WERE ON FINAL APPROACH TO LAND. THE V35B WAS ABOUT 800' ABOVE AND SLIGHTLY BEHIND THE CESSNA AS THE CESSNA BEGAN ITS FINAL APPROACH. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED AFTER THE AIRPLANES TRAVELED ABOUT 1500' BEYOND THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. JUST BEFORE IMPACT, THE CESSNA BANKED RAPIDLY TO THE RIGHT, BUT ITS LEFT WING AND THE V35B'S LOWER FUSELAGE COLLIDED. THE TWO AIRPLANES THEN CRASHED. THE CTLR SAID THAT HE DID NOT SEE THE V35B AFTER CLEARING THE CESSNA TO LAND. A SECOND CTLR WAS ON DUTY, BUT WAS ON A RELIEF BREAK WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. THE CTLRS SAID THAT THE TOWER CAB WINDOW HAD REFLECTIVE GLARE THAT CONSTITUTED A HINDRANCE. THE WORKING CTLR WAS HANDLING NINE AIRPLANES WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED.
Probable cause
INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE PILOT OF THE BEECH V35B, RESULTING IN HIS FAILURE TO SEE-AND-AVOID THE CESSNA 150, WHICH WAS AHEAD AND BELOW HIM ON FINAL APPROACH; AND FAILURE OF THE TOWER CONTROLLER TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SERVICE (FLIGHT ADVISORIES AND LANDING SEQUENCE) TO THE PILOTS OF THE CESSNA 150 AND BEECH V35B. FACTORS RELATING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: INADEQUATE AIR-TO-GROUND COMMUNICATION BY THE BEECH V35B PILOT, BY FAILING TO NOTIFY THE TOWER THAT HE WAS ON FINAL APPROACH, AND BY FAILING TO OBTAIN A CLEARANCE TO LAND; FAILURE OF THE TOWER CONTROLLER TO VISUALLY IDENTIFY THE BEECH V35B; EXCESSIVE WORKLOAD FOR THE TOWER CONTROLLER; AND POSSIBLE GLARE FROM THE WINDOWS OF THE TOWER CAB (OTHER LIGHT CONDITION).
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI95FA126
- Event ID
- 20001207X03249
- Case number
- CHI95FA126
- 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: 28342c0f228d7fd7a1304bb09747e03544e919b39893abd58e62bbcd05c60d1e; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:49:11.741Z.