MIA00FA041 · Piper PA-44-180
Piper PA-44-180 and Piper PA-28-161 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA00FA041
- 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 · Piper PA-44-180
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-44
- 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
- N3038N
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Daytona Beach, FLTo 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 · IFR final approach
- 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 · Piper PA-28-161
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N153ER
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Daytona Beach, FLTo 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
- Initial climb
- 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(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
After the Seminole airplane departed, requests to perform instrument approaches to the DeLand airport were denied; the controller responded to the request, '...delands saturated right now unable any approaches at deland....' The flight was vectored then cleared for a VOR approach to a runway 16 at Daytona Beach then vectored and cleared for a VOR approach to runway 23 at the DeLand airport. After the Cadet airplane departed, the flight proceeded to the DeLand airport and remained in the traffic pattern for runway 05; individuals heard the flight announce while in the traffic pattern. While inside the final approach fix inbound, radar service of the Seminole flight was terminated. Two individuals heard a voice announce on the DeLand CTAF, 'VOR 23.' The witnesses did not hear the distance, intentions, airport ID, or aircraft ID. The Seminole flight continued on the VOR approach; the last radar target of the Seminole was approximately .6 nautical mile from the approach end of runway 23. Several individuals heard the Cadet flight announce on the DeLand CTAF that the flight was departing runway 05. One witness reported that the Cadet used almost the full length of the runway, became airborne, then banked to the left and disappeared behind trees. The airplanes collided in-flight near the departure end of runway 05; the wreckage of both airplanes came to rest within approximately 1/2 nautical mile from the departure end of runway 05. An impact signature from one of the propeller blades from the left engine of the Seminole was noted on top of the engine of the Cadet; the impact signature was within approximately 25 degrees from being perpendicular. Several individuals reported frequency congestion of the DeLand CTAF from other airports that utilize the same frequency. Prior to the accident, ERAU personnel had informally inquired about having the frequency changed due to that very reason; the frequency was not changed before the accident. Advisory circulars and the AIM does not address when to terminate a practice instrument approach to an uncontrolled airport.
Probable cause
The inadequate visual lookout by the pilot-in-command (PIC)/certified flight instructor (CFI) of both aircraft. Contributing factors in the accident were: 1) the frequency congestion of the CTAF 2) the poor in-flight planning decision by the PIC/CFI of the Seminole for his continuing a practice instrument approach to within approximately .6 nautical mile from the approach end of the runway with opposing airplanes departing on the upwind leg, and 3) the absence of guidance in the Aeronautical Information Manual and Advisory Circulars as to how or when to terminate a practice instrument approach to an airport that does not have an operating control tower.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA00FA041
- Event ID
- 20001212X20275
- Case number
- MIA00FA041
- 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: cf7f4c0fc55b5092d44f63171e7dd4ef1c723b490ca9e57a2b78dcb71230b686; retrieved 2026-09-20T21:36:43.060Z.