DCA87MA020 · Piper PA-31-350
Piper PA-31-350 and Beech U-21A-BH · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA87MA020
- 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
- 6 · 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 · Piper PA-31-350
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- 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
- N60SE
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC), Kansas City, MOTo Spirit of St Louis Airport (SUS), ST.LOUIS, MO
- 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 · 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
- 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 · Beech U-21A-BH
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft U-21
- 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
- USA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Anniston Regional Airport (ANB), Anniston, ALTo Sherman Army Air Field (FLV), FT. LEAVENWORTH, KS
- 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
- Armed Forces
- 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
- Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Identification of aircraft on radar, not performed
- Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Traffic advisory, not issued
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Safety system(other) › Lack of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE TWO ACFT, A BEECH U-21A AND A PIPER PA-31-350, COLLIDED NEARLY HEAD ON AT 7000 FT MSL OVER INDEPENDENCE, MO. IN DAYLIGHT VMC CONDITIONS WITH A VISIBILITY OF 20 MILES. THE U-21 WAS IN LEVEL CRUISE AND THE PA-31 WAS CLIMBING EASTBOUND TO AN UNDISCLOSED ALT ENROUTE TO SAINT LOUIS. BOTH ACFT WERE EQUIPPED WITH OPERATING MODE-C TRANSPONDERS BUT THE CONTROLLER IN CONTACT WITH THE U-21 DID NOT OBSERVE THE CONFLICT AND TRAFFIC ADVISORIES WERE NOT PROVIDED. THE PA-31 WAS OPERATING IN ACCORDANCE WITH VISUAL FLT RULES. THE U-21 WAS OPERATING IN ACCORDANCE WITH INSTRUMENT FLT RULES. AFTER THE COLLISION BOTH ACFT CRASHED IN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT. THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT EITHER ACFT TOOK ANY EVASIVE ACTION. THE CONFLICT ALERT SUBPROGRAM OF THE ARTS III TRACKING SYSTEM WAS NOT PROGRAMMED TO ALERT THE CONTROLLERS TO THE IMPENDING COLLISION AND THE TWO CONTROLLERS DID NOT OBSERVE ANY TARGET IN THE VICINITY OF THE DATA BLOCK REPRESENTING THE U-21. (SEE NTSB/AAR-88/01).
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA87MA020
- Event ID
- 20001213X30061
- Case number
- DCA87MA020
- 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: 886ac1c4cab1be65238e06b7498f03d1d0be81fb018de9563b38a98bc8c491c0; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:15:20.707Z.