FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

CHI90LA129 · CECIL, Richard C. STARDUSTER II STARDUSTER

24 May 1990 · Indianapolis, IN, United States

CECIL, Richard C. STARDUSTER II STARDUSTER and Indiana Bellanca Cessna C152 II · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
CHI90LA129
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 · CECIL, Richard C. STARDUSTER II STARDUSTER

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
N85RC
Operator
Cecil, Richard C. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Taxi
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
On ground/water collision with object
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 · Cessna C152 II

Aircraft type
Cessna 152
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
N2927X
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Taxi
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
On ground/water collision with object
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 (CONVENTIONAL GEAR) BIPLANE REPORTED THAT HE LOOKED FOR TRAFFIC ON THE TAXIWAY BEFORE TAXIING TO REPOSITION HIS AIRCRAFT ON THE AIRPORT. HE STATED THAT HE 'DID NOT SEE ANY AIRCRAFT IN VIEW....PROCEEDED TO TAXI AND SAW THE WING OF THE OTHER AIRCRAFT OVER MY NOSE.... 'THE TAXIING AIRCRAFT IMPACTED THE CESSNA C152, WHICH WAS PARKED ON THE RAMP WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING IN PREPARATION FOR A LOCAL INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT. THE NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE OF THE TAILDRAGGER RESTRICTED THE TAXIING PILOT'S VISIBILITY.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT DURING GROUND TAXI OPERATIONS. THE NATURAL NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE OF THE TAILDRAGGER RESTRICTED THE PILOT'S FORWARD VISIBILTIY, AND WAS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN THIS ACCIDENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90LA129
Event ID
20001212X23104
Case number
CHI90LA129
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: f323b9961fc98099607b8b0ca9a5578867ddce1b38362c242677e941111d364a; retrieved 2026-09-23T06:10:49.070Z.