FTW89IA168 · Cessna 152
Abrams Aviation Cessna 152 and Flight Training Center Cessna 150 · Incident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW89IA168
- 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
- 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
- N94808
- Operator
- Abrams Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 150
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N9347U
- Operator
- Flight Training Center
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wiley Post Airport (PWA)To Wiley Post Airport (PWA)
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Control tower service, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A MIDAIR COLLISION OF 2 ACFT OCCURRED AS THEY WERE ON FINAL APCH TO RWY 35L AT A CTLD ARPT. NUMEROUS INSTRUCTIONAL & NML ACFT OPNS WERE BEING CONDUCTED AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. INITIALLY, THE PLTS OF BOTH ACFT WERE IN CTC WITH THE LCL CTLR & BOTH HAD RCVD APPROVAL FOR CLOSED TFC. THE PLT OF 1 ACFT (CESSNA 152, N94808) RCVD CLNC FOR A TOUCH & GO LNDG. THE PLT OF THE OTR ACFT (CESSNA 150, N9347U) HAD NOT COMMUNICATED WITH THE TWR FOR ABT 2 MIN BEFORE THE INCIDENT. ACCORDING TO A WITNESS, THE CESSNA 152 WAS ESTABLISHED ON FINAL APCH & THE CESSNA 150 PLT MADE A CONTINUOUS 180 DEG TURN FM DOWNWIND TO FINAL APCH. THE CESSNA 150 WAS RPRTD TO HAVE CONVERGED ON THE CESSNA 152 FROM ABOVE. DURING IMPACT, THE LNDG GEAR OF THE CESSNA 150 BROKE THE WINDSHIELD OF THE CESSNA 152. THE TWR CTLR DID NOT SEE THE COLLISION. WHEN SHE 1ST SIGHTED THE ACFT, THEY WERE SIDE-BY-SIDE. SHE THEN CLRD THE CESSNA 152 TO LAND & INSTRUCTED THE CESSNA 150 TO GO AROUND. SAMPLE OF CESSNA 150 PLT'S URINE (TAKEN NEXT DAY) SHOWED TRACE (72 NG/ML) OF CANNABINOID METABOLITE.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE CESSNA 150 PILOT TO SEE-AND-AVOID THE CESSNA 152 (INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT), AND FAILURE OF THE TOWER CONTROLLER TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SERVICE. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: HIGH TRAFFIC DENSITY, WHICH RESULTED IN FREQUENCY CONGESTION, AND FAILURE OF THE CESSNA 150 PILOT TO FOLLOW ESTABLISHED TRAFFIC PATTERN PROCEDURES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW89IA168
- Event ID
- 20001213X29373
- Case number
- FTW89IA168
- 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: 0fd24af1e7c0002b75f44cb88587c5d5c3ee2043e36c06ce992f59ca67b199e9; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:09:39.393Z.