CHI97FA084 · Douglas DC-3C/BT-67R DC-3C/BT-6
Douglas DC-3C/BT-67R DC-3C/BT-6 and Beech A36 · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI97FA084
- 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 · Douglas DC-3C/BT-67R DC-3C/BT-6
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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
- TZ389
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, 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
- En route · cruise
- 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 A36
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 36
- 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
- N3657A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
At 1400 cst, modified Douglas DC-3C/BT-67R, TZ389, & Beech A36, N3657A, began formation flight to get DC-3 flying time & for the 2nd occupant of the A36 to get aerial photos of the DC-3. A witness saw the airplanes (acft) at 500' to 700' agl, "flying close together heading north." He said "the big plane (DC-3) was flying straight & level. The little plane (A36) was just to the west of the big plane. The little plane then hit the big plane near the middle." After impact, pieces of acft were seen falling. Another witness saw the DC-3 heading north & the A36 circling it above & below. On its last pass, the A36 circled behind the DC-3, then crossed over the top & hitting the top of the DC-3. About 5 seconds after impact, the DC-3 gently rolled/turned westbound (apparently descending & gaining airspeed); the left wing then came off, followed by the right wing about 2 seconds later. Parts of the A36 empennage were found 3590 to 4910 ft from the main wreckage. There was evidence that during impact, the DC-3 elevator and rudder controls were severed. No preimpact anomalies were found. At 1445cst, an AIRMET had been issued, forecasting light to moderate turbulence below 8,000 ft msl. Toxicology tests of the DC-3 copilot's blood showed 0.127 mcg/ml amitriptyline (a prescription antidepressant with sedative side effects), 0.039 mcg/ml nortriptyline (metabolite of amitriptyline), and an undetermined amount of ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine (over-the-counter medications used in cold preparations, diet aids & stimulants).
Probable cause
failure of the Beech A36 pilot to maintain clearance from the modified Douglas DC-3, while positioning the A36 for photography of the DC-3.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI97FA084
- Event ID
- 20001208X07496
- Case number
- CHI97FA084
- 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: dba5fe9d9816fd84e46f9045abe36ae297900a4908d638b91fa133d6b21af3be; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:01:45.367Z.