BFO93LA006 · Cessna 182
Cessna 182 and Virginia Aircraft Brokers Cessna 150M · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO93LA006
- 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 182
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N91868
- Operator
- William C. Reuter, JR · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From PXT · PATUXENT RIVER, MDTo 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 downwind
- 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 · 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
- N63532
- Operator
- Virginia Aircraft Brokers
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From SFQTo Hampton Roads Executive Airport (PVG), HAMPTON ROADS, VA
- 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 downwind
- 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
- Dual student › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
CESSNA 182, N91868, COLLIDED IN FLIGHT WITH CESSNA 150, N63532, WHILE BOTH WERE IN A LEFT TRAFFIC PATTERN. THE CESSNA 150 PILOTS (CHECK PILOT AND PILOT BEING EVALUATED) HAD JUST LANDED AND TOOK OFF AGAIN FOR ANOTHER PATTERN, AS THE CESSNA 182 PILOTS WERE ENTERING THE PATTERN TO LAND. AS THE CESSNA 150 WAS ROLLING OUT ON A LEFT DOWNWIND, THE LEFT SEAT PILOT OBSERVED THE CESSNA 182 CONVERGING FROM BEHIND AND FROM THE LEFT, SO HE 'PULLED THE NOSE SHARPLY UP.' MEANWHILE, THE PASSENGER IN THE CESSNA 182 ALERTED THE CFI AND STUDENT PILOT IN THE FRONT SEATS THAT THE CESSNA 150 WAS CONVERGING FROM THE RIGHT. THE CFI IN THE CESSNA 182 TOOK THE CONTROLS AND 'MADE A SHARP LEFT TURN.' THE AIRPLANES COLLIDED, BUT WERE LANDED SAFELY. THE CESSNA 150 CHECK PILOT STATED THAT THE CESSNA 182 PILOTS HAD MADE A NONSTANDARD ENTRY INTO THE TRAFFIC PATTERN.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE PILOTS IN THE CESSNA 182 TO VISUALLY IDENTIFY AND AVOID THE CESSNA 150 (INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT). A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: USE OF A NONSTANDARD ENTRY INTO THE TRAFFIC PATTERN BY THE CESSNA 182 FLIGHT CREW.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO93LA006
- Event ID
- 20001211X15995
- Case number
- BFO93LA006
- 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: 061f5639f7182f9727b36c98b4f97e17050f229bc9566361d820a064cb2bf443; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:29:09.637Z.