FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

FTW95LA352 · Cessna 172E

20 Aug 1995 · Alpine, TX, United States

Cessna 172E and Piper PA-31T · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) during landing

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
FTW95LA352
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
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 172E

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
N5638T
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Nix River Ranch Strip (TX07), Presidio, TXTo E38
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
Landing · landing roll
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 · Piper PA-31T

Aircraft type
Piper PA-31
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
N53AM
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From CRQ · Carlsbad, NMTo E38
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
Landing · landing roll
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, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

THE CESSNA 172E, N5638T, HAD LANDED ON RUNWAY 19, AND THE PIPER PA-31T, N53AM, HAD LANDED ON RUNWAY 5. THEY COLLIDED AT A RUNWAY INTERSECTION DURING THEIR RESPECTIVE LANDING ROLLOUTS. THE PILOTS OF BOTH AIRPLANES REPORTED THAT THEY DID NOT SEE EACH OTHER UNTIL THEY CONVERGED. BOTH PILOTS STATED THAT THEY MADE VHF RADIO CALLS ON THE LOCAL UNICOM FREQUENCY (122.8) TO ANNOUNCE THEIR APPROACHES TO THE AIRPORT. THE UNICOM RADIO OPERATOR REPORTED THAT HE DID NOT RECALL HEARING A TRANSMISSION FROM THE CESSNA, BUT DID HEAR A TRANSMISSION FROM THE PIPER. A GROUND TEST OF THE VHF TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER IN THE CESSNA SHOWED THE RADIO TO BE INOPERATIVE.

Probable cause

THE FAILURE OF THE PILOTS OF BOTH AIRPLANES TO SEE AND AVOID EACH OTHER. A FACTOR WAS THE CESSNA'S INOPERATIVE RADIO.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW95LA352
Event ID
20001207X04251
Case number
FTW95LA352
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: b0ebd2251bd3efc10ef9cb6409f35e9cd5dc97b1005a3888f577865279ac2dfe; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:23:18.868Z.