NYC89FA135 · Cessna 172M
Cessna 172M and P.C.G. Air Cessna 172RG · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC89FA135
- 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
- 2 · 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 172M
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N1272U
- Operator
- Zackery A. Clark · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Northeast Kingdom International Airport (EFK), Newport, VTTo Northampton Airport (7B2), Northampton, MA
- 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
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 172RG
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N4974V
- Operator
- PCG Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lebanon Municipal Airport (LEB), Lebanon, NHTo 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Check pilot › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Bradford, VT, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
CESSNA 172M, N1272U, WITH A COMMERCIAL PLT & STUDENT PLT PASSENGER, COLLIDED IN FLT WITH CESSNA 172RG, N4974V, WHICH WAS BEING OPERD BY A PVT PLT & A DESIGNATED FAA CHECK PLT ON A COMMERCIAL PLT CHECK FLT. WITNESSES RPRTD THE 2 ACFT CONVERGED & COLLIDED WHILE ON HDGS OF 30 TO 45 DEG FROM EACH OTHER. NO EVASIVE ACTION WAS EVIDENT. DURING IMPACT, THE RGT HORIZONTAL STABILIZER OF THE 172RG BECAME IMBEDDED IN THE WINDSHIELD OF THE 172M, & THE PROP OF THE 172M SEVERED THE TAIL OF THE 172RG. THE 172RG WENT OUT OF CONTROL & CRASHED. THE OCCUPANTS OF THE 172M MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING ON AN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY WITH ONLY MINOR INJURIES TO THEMSELVES & MINOR DAMAGE TO THEIR ACFT.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE RATED PILOTS IN BOTH AIRCRAFT TO SEE AND AVOID A MIDAIR COLLISION.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC89FA135
- Event ID
- 20001213X28417
- Case number
- NYC89FA135
- 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: 90bd265923504a412b8f9fd9b3eb97d2f8e0f9308eb94d7bb5a62ef09723081e; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:19:15.574Z.