MIA89FA253 · Cessna 172N
Cessna 172N and Cessna 152 · Accident: midair collision while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA89FA253
- 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 172N
- 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
- N1063F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From IMB · Miami, FLTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
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
- N80587
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From IMB · Miami, FLTo Miami, FL
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Ochopee, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
N80587 MANUEVERED AROUND THE OBSERVATION TOWER AT SHARK VALLEY AT AN ALTITUDE OF 600 FEET. THE FLIGHT THEN DEPARTED THE AREA CLIMBING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST AT 100 KNOTS. N1063F WAS PERFORMING SLOW FLIGHT WITH FULL FLAPS EXTENDED AT APPROXIMATELY 800 FEET AND A SOUTHWESTERLY HEADING. AS THE RADAR TARGETS OF BOTH AIRPLANES CROSSED, N1063F TURNED TOWARD THE WEST AND BEGAN TO FLY AN ERRATIC PATH. N80587 CONTINUED TO CLIMB NORMALLY AND RETURNED TO THE TAMIAMI AIRPORT FOR LANDING. N1063F WAS LOST FROM RADAR ONE MINUTE LATER. A TIRE MARK ON THE UPPER INBOARD AREA OF THE RIGHT WING OF N1063F WAS FOUND WHICH BEST MATCHES THE LEFT MAIN TIRE OF N80587. THE REAR WING SPAR OF N1063F FAILED IN THE AREA OF THE TIRE MARK AND THE AIRPLANE EXPERIENCED INFLIGHT SEPARATION OF THE WINGS. THE PILOT OF N80587 DID NOT RECALL COLLIDING WITH ANOTHER AIRPLANE OR ANY EVENT THAT WOULD SUGGEST THIS. HE PASSED A POLYGRAPH TEST TO THAT EFFECT.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOTS OF BOTH AIRPLANES TO SEE AND AVOID EACH OTHER WHILE MANUEVERING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA89FA253
- Event ID
- 20001213X29435
- Case number
- MIA89FA253
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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: e1dc6c76001b065deaf159c0661ce1d6b72dd8435e04b8d2bb19ebfb34880d9a; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:08:33.855Z.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: destination. The narrative states N80587 "CONTINUED TO CLIMB NORMALLY AND RETURNED TO THE TAMIAMI AIRPORT FOR LANDING"; the destination was not recorded.