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CHI90LA201 · Bryant Rowland T-18

30 Jul 1990 · FISK, WI, United States

Bryant Rowland T-18 and Cessna 170A · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
CHI90LA201
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 · Bryant Rowland T-18

Aircraft type
Bryant Rowland T-18
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
N66BR
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport (JVL), Janesville, WITo Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, WI
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
En route · descent
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 170A

Aircraft type
Cessna 170
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
N1702D
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 55C · Dodgeville, WITo Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, WI
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
En route · cruise
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

  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

WHILE BOTH AIRCRAFT WERE INBOUND FOR LANDING AT APPROXIMATELY 1,800 FEET MSL, THEY EXPERIENCED A MIDAIR COLLISION. BOTH AIRCRAFT SUSTAINED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE, HOWEVER NEITHER PILOT NOR ANY PASSENGER REPORTED INJURIES. ONE AIRCRAFT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN A FIELD AND THE OTHER AIRCRAFT WAS ABLE TO CONTINUE TO THE AIRPORT OF INTENDED LANDING. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT THE LOW WING AIRCRAFT OVERTOOK THE HIGH WING AIRCRAFT FROM BEHIND ON NEAR IDENTICAL HEADINGS. A WITNESS IN ANOTHER AIRCRAFT FOLLOWING THE HIGH WING AIRCRAFT INDICATED THAT THE LOW WING AIRCRAFT WAS DESCENDING AT THE TIME OF THE COLLISION.

Probable cause

THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND OF THE THORP T-18'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A SUFFICIENT VISUAL LOOKOUT TO AVOID A COLLISION WITH THE CESSNA 170A. CONTRIBUTING WAS THE LIMITED VISIBILITY FORWARD AND TO THE RIGHT IN THE THORP T-18.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90LA201
Event ID
20001212X23657
Case number
CHI90LA201
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: 700033e6aaf12df2247ba1b3dd1517b9cf1960befd23f3f6d4fb76424ce7658e; retrieved 2026-09-23T05:29:16.608Z.