MIA00FA107 · Cessna 310D
Cessna 310D and Beech A36 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA00FA107
- 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 310D
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 310
- 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
- N6744T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA), Lantana, FLTo Witham Field (SUA)
- 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
- 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
- Minor
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
- N51ML
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lakeland Linder International Airport (LAL), Lakeland, FLTo Witham Field (SUA)
- 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
- 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
- Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Approach/departure control service, inadequate
- Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Crew/group coordination, not performed
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Radio communications, excessive
- 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 310 (N6744T) had been on a right base for runway 7, and at 1433:30, had at the Stuart tower controller's request, verified that it was the Cessna 310 that was turning on final for runway 7. At 1433:33 the controller cleared the pilot of the Cessna 310 to land on runway 7. Previously, the pilot of the Beech A-36 (N51ML) had requested from, and had been cleared by the Palm Beach Arrival Radar North Controller, to execute the global positioning system (GPS) instrument approach to runway 12 at Stuart, and the procedure had been coordinated with the local tower controllers at Stuart. Shortly thereafter however, the initial Palm Beach Approach controller was relieved, and the relieving approach controller issued the pilot of the Beech A-36 a visual approach clearance to Stuart, along with a radio frequency communications handoff to the Stuart (local) tower controller, which the pilot of the Beech A-36 accepted. However, no follow-up coordination had been conducted between the Palm Beach Approach controllers and the local tower controllers to advise that the Beech A-36 was no longer executing the GPS approach to runway 12. Meanwhile, the Beech A-36 was proceeding inbound to Stuart, from its present position, lining up with runway 7. During the same time period, in response to an inquiry, the local controller had become engaged in a conversation about operations near the airport, and the conversation, interspersed with other air traffic control instructions, limited communications contact, while the Cessna 310 and the Beech A-36 were proceeding inbound to the airport. At 1433:58 the pilot of Beech A-36 informed the local tower controller that he was on a 2 mile final for runway 7, and the local tower controller responded that the Beech A-36 had been expected to execute the GPS approach to runway 12. Shortly thereafter, the Cessna 310 and Beech A-36 collided with each other, in flight, in the traffic pattern, while both were approaching to land on runway 07 at Stuart. During the collision Cessna 310 incurred minor damage, but the pilot continued the approach, and landed safely at Stuart. After the collision, the pilot of Beech A-36 terminated the approach and proceeded to North County Airport, where he landed without further incident. Examination of Beech revealed that the left wing spar had been bent.
Probable cause
the failure of both pilots to maintain an adequate visual lookout, resulting in both airplanes colliding in flight. Contributing to the accident were: 1) inadequate approach/departure control service by ATC approach/departure personnel, and the failure of the radar approach controller to advise the local tower controller of the change in approach procedure for N51ML; 2) the excessive and extraneous radio communications by the local controller which prevented both pilots from providing timely position information during the critical period prior to the midair collision.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA00FA107
- Event ID
- 20001212X20687
- Case number
- MIA00FA107
- 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: 5a0a9e3e83b78ca9966689acdbfc4c82b18648583598ab29b3a31651f19812b7; retrieved 2026-09-22T13:02:57.898Z.