Nasa Northrop T-38A incident
Northrop T-38A and Pan American World Airways Airbus Industrie A-310 · Incident: near collision between aircraft en route
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO89IA036
- 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 · Northrop T-38A
- Aircraft type
- Northrop T-38
- 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
- N920NS
- Operator
- Nasa
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Campbell Army Airfield (Fort Campbell) (HOP), FT CAMPBELL, KYTo Joint Base Andrews (ADW), ANDREWS AFB, MD
- 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
- 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 · Airbus Industrie A-310
- Aircraft type
- Airbus A-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
- N806PA
- Operator
- Pan American World Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From IAD · Washington, DCTo Paris-Orly Airport (ORY), PARIS,FRANCE
- 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
- En route · climb to 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Atc clearance, not followed
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Atc clearance, not followed
- Pilot of other aircraft › Proper altitude, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Washington, DC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
NASA T-38, N920NS, WAS INBND (HDG EAST) ON A FINKS ONE ARRIVAL TO ANDREWS AFB WITH CLNC TO DSCND TO 8000'. IN THE SAME AREA, PAN AM FLT 140 (AIRBUS A310/N806PA) WAS HDG NORTH AT 7000' AFTER DEPG DULLES (IAD) IAP. THE AIRBUS WAS HANDLED BY IAD APCH CTL. THE T-38 WAS HANDLED BY WASHINGTON (DCA) APCH CTL. THE T-38 PLT DSCNDD THRU 8000' & RPRTD AT 7000'. AT 1ST THE DCA CTLR DIDN'T REALIZE THE T-38 WAS AT THE WRONG ALT. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE CONFLICT ALERT ALARMED & THE DCA CTLR ISSUED A TFC ADZY. THE T-38 PLT IMMEDIATELY CLIMBED TO 8000', BUT BEFORE HE CLIMBED, RADAR DATA INDCD THE AIRBUS & T-38 PASSED EACH OTR WITH 711' LATERAL CLNC & 100' VERTICAL CLNC. THE AIRBUS PLT STATED HE SAW THE T-38 PASS AHEAD FM LEFT TO RGT. THE IAD CONTROLLER DID NOTICE TFC FOR THE AIRBUS, BUT HE DID NOT ISSUE A TFC ADZRY. ALSO, HE SAID HIS CONFLICT ALERT SYS DID NOT ALARM; COMPUTER DATA INDCD THE ALARM HAD OPERATED.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND (T-38 PILOT) TO FOLLOW THE ATC CLEARANCE AND TO MAINTAIN THE PROPER ALTITUDE. FACTORS RELATED TO THE INCIDENT WERE: FAILURE OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) PERSONNEL TO RECOGNIZE THE T-38'S IMPROPER ALTITUDE IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND ATC PERSONNEL'S DELAY IN INITIATING CORRCTIVE ACTION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO89IA036
- Event ID
- 20001213X28251
- Case number
- BFO89IA036
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (6)
- 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: 7d9e21cbe090f0431905a868e2b97856cac200a1451210869fc4e6e4e6bb4bd4; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:11:48.290Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N806PA; the operator shown is the name the NTSB's other records give its FAA operator code, PAAA.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: operator. The NTSB narrative names the operator: "NASA T-38, N920NS, WAS INBND (HDG EAST) ON A FINKS ONE ARRIVAL TO ANDREWS AFB"