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Continental Airlines Flight 122

1 Mar 1989 · Houston, TX, United States

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 and Trans World Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 · Incident: near collision between aircraft on approach

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Event

NTSB case
FTW89IA064
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
Incident
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
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Aircraft 1 · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82

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
N820NY
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From San Antonio International Airport (SAT), San Antonio, TXTo George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, TX
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 121: Air Carrier
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 initial 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
Near collision between aircraft
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Aircraft 2 · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82

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
N918TW
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Austin, TXTo George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, TX
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 121: Air Carrier
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 initial 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
Near collision between aircraft
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Radar separation, not maintained

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Houston, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

TWA FLT 806 (DC-9) WAS NW OF ARPT (FOR ILS RWY 9 APCH) AS CONTINENTAL FLT 122 (DC-9) WAS SW OF ARPT FOR SAME APCH. BOTH WERE IN IMC, BEING VCTRD BY FINAL TRACON CTLR (WORKING 2 SECTORS & CTLG 23 ACFT). AS FLT 122 WAS APCHG LOCALIZER (LOC) & HDG 060 DEG AT 3000' MSL, FLT 806 WAS ABT 8 MI NW OF FLT 122 & WAS CLRD TO INTERCEPT LOC. CTLR TMTD TO FLT 122 'FOUR FM THE MARKER, MAINT 2000 UNTIL ESTABLISHED ON THE LOC, CLRD ILS RWY 9 APCH, AND ARE YOU GOING THRU THE LOC TOO?' FLT 122 REPLIED 'YES SIR, YOU NEVER TOLD US TO INTERCEPT.' CTLR THEN TOLD FLT 122 'MAINT 3500 & TURN LEFT 360,' MEANING TO TURN TO A HDG OF 360 DEG. FLT 122 THOUGHT CTLR WANTED A 360 DEG CIRCLING TURN & BGN A RGT TURN. WHILE CIRCLING, FLT 122 ASKED FOR A HDG TO ROLL OUT ON. CTLR SAID TO FLY HDG 230. CTLR THEN REALIZED THE 2 ACFT WERE CONVERGING. HE TOLD FLT 122 TO DCND TO 2000' & TMTD FOR 'CONTINENTAL 806' TO MAINT 3500'. SINCE CTLR USED WRONG COMPANY DESIGNATOR, TWA FLT 806 DID NOT RESPOND. RADAR SHOWED THE 2 ACFT PASSED AT ABT 3100' WITH .079 MI SEPN.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE TRACON FINAL APPROACH CONTROLLER TO ASSURE RADAR SEPARATION BETWEEN THE AIRCRAFT. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: INADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY THE ATC SUPERVISOR, EXCESSIVE WORKLOAD FOR THE CONTROLLER, UNCLEAR INSTRUCTIONS BY THE CONTROLLER, AND A MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ATC CLEARANCE BY THE FLIGHT CREW OF CONTINENTAL FLIGHT 122.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW89IA064
Event ID
20001213X27891
Case number
FTW89IA064
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, damage. 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: eba40f6b3a56d1ef1042f883e3acdcfd2e52fb5dd0ee62f46c69c165b766711b; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:13:49.802Z.