CHI91FA235 · Aero Commander 500B
Aero Commander 500B and Aero Commander 500B · Accident: midair collision while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI91FA235
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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 · Aero Commander 500B
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 500
- 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
- N904DF
- Operator
- Dewey E. Tower · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT), Wichita, KSTo Hays Regional Airport (HYS), Hays, KS
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 · Aero Commander 500B
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 500
- 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
- N702CA
- Operator
- Dewey E. Tower · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ICT), Wichita, KSTo Great Bend Municipal Airport (GBD), Great Bend, KS
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 › Visual separation, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual separation, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Silica, KS, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
BOTH AIRCRAFT DEPARTED WICHITA ON IFR FLIGHT PLAN IN VFR WEATHER CONDITIONS. THEY FLEW NORTHWEST TOWARD THEIR RESPECTIVE DESTINATIONS, AND CANCELLED IFR ABOUT 20 MINUTES BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. ATC OBSERVED THE AIRPLANES ON RADAR, AND STATED THEY WERE 'DOGFIGHTING BACK AND FORTH' PRIOR TO THE COLLISION. ONE PILOT'S ROOMMATE REPORTED THE TWO PILOTS, WHO WERE CLOSE FRIENDS AS WELL AS CO-WORKERS, OFTEN CANCELLED IFR AND FLEW IN FORMATION IF THE WEATHER WAS VFR. HE REPORTED THE PILOTS OFTEN VIDEOTAPED EACH OTHER, AND HE HAD WATCHED SOME OF THE TAPES. HE STATED 'IT WAS HARD TO TELL FROM THE VIDEOTAPE HOW CLOSE THEY WERE BECAUSE THEY COULD USE THE ZOOM FEATURE, ETC. YOU COULD READ THE N NUMBERS.' INVESTIGATION REVEALED BROWN PAINT TRANSFER ON THE BOTTOM OF THE RIGHT WING OF THE BLUE AND WHITE AIRPLANE, WHICH HAD SEPARATED AND WAS LOCATED 1.5 MILES FROM THE MAIN WRECKAGE. THERE WERE LIGHT COLORED SCUFF MARKS ON THE TOP OF THE LEFT ENGINE NACELLE OF THE BROWN AND WHITE AIRPLANE.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF BOTH PILOTS TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE SEPARATION DURING FORMATION FLIGHT. RELATED FACTORS ARE OVERCONFIDENCE IN PERSONAL ABILITY AND POOR PLANNING/DECISION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI91FA235
- Event ID
- 20001212X17487
- Case number
- CHI91FA235
- 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: f447754de99a8aaeb150fd5672661948e7e90c8b0413fc1a11888dee3ef6f686; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:02:52.796Z.