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FTW96LA287 · Cessna 421B

2 Jul 1996 · Stillwater, OK, United States

Cessna 421B and Osu Aviation Center Cessna 152 · Accident: collision between aircraft (not in flight) during landing

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Event

NTSB case
FTW96LA287
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 421B

Aircraft type
Cessna 421
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
N450SU
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Stillwater Regional Airport (SWO)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
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 · 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
N94532
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Stillwater Regional Airport (SWO)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
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

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

The pilot of the Cessna 421B, N450SU, was making a full stop landing on runway 17. The Cessna 152, N94532, flown by a student pilot on his second supervised solo, had landed on runway 22. During their respective landing rolls, the two airplanes collided at the intersection of runways 17 and 22. The uncontrolled airport was equipped with Unicom service, which was reported to be operational at the time of the accident. Both airplanes were equipped with operational 2-way radios, and both pilots stated that they announced their intentions prior to landing. A witness at the airport observed the collision. He stated that the Cessna 152 landed long and maintained a high rate of speed during the landing roll on runway 22. The Cessna 152 stayed on the runway centerline, and began to veer to the right as it approached the intersection. He also reported that he observed the Cessna 421 applying heavy braking, as he tried to veer to the right to avoid the Cessna 152.

Probable cause

the failure of the pilots of the Cessna 421B, N450SU, and the Cessna 152, N94532, to maintain visual lookout. Factors were: the inadequate radio communications maintained by both pilots, and the failure of the student pilot of the Cessna 152 to take evasive action.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW96LA287
Event ID
20001208X06211
Case number
FTW96LA287
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: 2fa5e6231dbae19d4366abd7397bd7fa6c19297a5f524a1cde5068026b896555; retrieved 2026-09-22T22:01:49.551Z.