NYC87FA061 · Piper PA-32-260
Piper PA-32-260 and Three Wing Crop. of Conn Piper PA-28-181 · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC87FA061
- 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
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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-32-260
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N3293W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Westerly State Airport (WST)To Block Island State Airport (BID), BLOCK ISLAND, RI
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Piper PA-28-181
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N4319Y
- Operator
- Three Wing Crop. of Conn
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Igor I Sikorsky Memorial Airport (BDR), Bridgeport, CTTo Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK), Nantucket, 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Westerly, RI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PIPER PA-32-260 WAS TAKING OFF FROM AN UNCONTROLLED AIRPORT AND MAKING A LEFT DOWNWIND DEPARTURE. A SECOND AIRCRAFT, A PIPER PA-28-181 WAS TRANSITING THE AREA 1 MILE SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT AT AN ALTITUDE OF 1500 FT AGL. THE PA-28-181 SAW THE PA-32-260 JUST PRIOR TO CONTACT AND MADE A DESCENDING RIGHT TURN. THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR WHEEL STRUCK THE AFT PORTION OF THE LEFT WING TIP OF THE PA-28-181. THE RIGHT OUTBOARD AILERON HINGE WAS DESTROYED AND THE AILERON BENT BACKWARD AND UP. THE PA-32-260 RECEIVED A SMALL CUT ON THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR TIRE AND A SCRAPE ON THE OUTSIDE PORTION OF THE WHEEL RIM. THE PILOT OF THE PA-32-260 SAID HE NEVER SAW THE OTHER AIRCRAFT PRIOR TO CONTACT. TWO PASSENGERS, ONE IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT AND THE OTHER IN THE RIGHT REAR SEAT OF THE PA-32-260 BOTH SAW THE PA-28-181 PRIOR TO THE COLLISION. BOTH AIRCRAFT LANDED SAFELY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC87FA061
- Event ID
- 20001213X30140
- Case number
- NYC87FA061
- 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: 3b592c8f8a0df7985352678c8b15740d21b5e3113e77ed25ebf2e48dc1d4d6c8; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:43:55.146Z.