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MIA99LA051 · Cessna 172M

19 Dec 1998 · Okeechobee, FL, United States

Cessna 172M and Let L-13 · Accident: midair collision on approach

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Event

NTSB case
MIA99LA051
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 172M

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
N9295H
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Punta Gorda Airport (PGD), Punta Gorda, FLTo Okeechobee County Airport (OBE)
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
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Let L-13

Aircraft type
Let L-13
Category
Glider
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
N98KK
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Okeechobee County Airport (OBE)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
Substantial

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 pilot of the Cessna reported entering the traffic pattern on a left downwind for runway 13, and at that time he observed the glider on the upwind leg for runway 13. The pilot of the Cessna turned left base and final, announced these legs, and while on final approach at 500 feet, he felt an impact. He continued the approach and landed uneventfully. The pilot of the glider reported that after release, the flight descended to the traffic pattern altitude and entered left downwind, left base and final; announcing all legs. While on final approach at 200 feet to the grass runway, he felt an impact then noted that the Cessna pulled ahead and to his left, and landed on the paved surface of the runway. The glider was landed on the grass runway. The vertical stabilizer of the Cessna was displaced to the right about 45 degrees and marks on the upper surface of the left elevator were oriented at a 45 degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the airplane. The lower surface of the left wintgtip of the glider was displaced up and the right lower side of the fuselage was damaged.

Probable cause

The inadequate visual lookout of the pilot of the Cessna airplane and of the pilot of the glider resulting in the midair collision.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA99LA051
Event ID
20001211X11603
Case number
MIA99LA051
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: 690ff02e21eb176d20c2e7a0fd0d3c526d23ae78289804410e316cf5817c8360; retrieved 2026-09-22T16:08:06.908Z.