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NYC91LA015 · Cessna 152

20 Oct 1990 · Kent, OH, United States

Kent State University Cessna 152 and Kent State University Cessna 152 · Accident: midair collision on approach

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Event

NTSB case
NYC91LA015
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 152

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
N5331P
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Kent State University Airport (1G3), Stow, OHTo 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 · VFR pattern final
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 152

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
N95474
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 29G · Ravenna, OHTo 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 · VFR pattern final
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 separation, not maintained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual separation, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

THE TWO CESSNA 152'S COLLIDED WHILE OPERATING IN A CONGESTED AIRPORT TRAFFIC PATTERN. THERE WERE 7 AIRPLANES IN THIS PATTERN AT THE SAME TIME. THE AIRPORT HAS NO CONTROL TOWER. THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FLIGHT TRAINING COORDINATOR SAID, 'THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF TRANSIENT TRAFFIC THIS DAY...THE RADIO FREQUENCY WAS SATURATED WITH RADIO CALLS.' THE PILOTS LOST VISUAL CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER, BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY AIRPLANES AND SOME OF THESE WERE OT FAIMLIAR WITH THE NORMAL TRAFFIC PATTERN. AFTER THE MID AIR COLLISION, BOTH AIRPLANES WERE ABLE TO LAND SAFELY.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF BOTH PILOTS TO MAINTAIN VISUAL SEPARATION IN THE LANDING TRAFFIC PATTERN. FACTORS TO THIS MID-AIR COLLISION WERE THE EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF AIRPLANES IN THE AIRPORT TRAFFIC PATTERN AND RADIO FREQUENCY CONGESTION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC91LA015
Event ID
20001212X24533
Case number
NYC91LA015
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: df37309afc91965d79644044066fa431da0aa29042b0958be2eea52ea3a05e73; retrieved 2026-09-23T05:13:00.520Z.