MIA87FA236 · Cessna 152
Cessna 152 and Kimura International Bell 47G-2 · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA87FA236
- 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
- 1 · 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
- N48864
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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 base
- 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
Aircraft 2 · Bell 47G-2
- Aircraft type
- Bell 47
- Category
- Helicopter
- 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
- N6728D
- Operator
- Kimura International
- 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 base
- 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(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Traffic advisory, inadequate
- Dual student › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › 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 STUDENT PLT & INSTRUCTOR (CFI) IN CESSNA 152, N48864, TOOK OFF & ENTERED RGT TRAFFIC TO PRACTICE LNDGS ON RWY 9R. SOONTHEREAFTER, A HELICOPTER PLT (H/P) IN A BELL 47G-2, N6728D, TOOK OFF & ENTERED RGT TRAFFIC TO PRACTICE LNDGS IN A DESIG-NATED HELICOPTER AREA (AREA-A) BESIDE RWY 9R. THE TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR AREA-A WAS INSIDE & BLO THE PATTERN FOR RWY 9R. AT0816, WHEN THE H/P WAS CLRD FOR TKOF, THE LCL CTLR (LC) ADZD HIM OF THE CESSNA MAKING TOUCH-&-GO LNDGS ON RWY 9R. ABT 1 MIN LTR, THE LC ADZD THE CESSNA PLTS OF THE HELICOPTER OPERATING IN AREA-A, BUT MADE NO FURTHER TRAFFIC ADZYS TO EITHER ACFT. AS THE CESSNA WAS ON ITS 4TH APCH, THE CFI SIMULATED AN EMERGENCY BY REDUCING THE PWR TO IDLE. AT THAT TIME, THE H/P WAS ON HIS 2ND APCH. AS THE CFI & STUDENT CONTD ON A BASS-TO-FINAL TURN, THE CESSNA CONVERGED WITH THE HELICOPTER FROM THE REAR. AT APRX 0824, THE 2 ACFT COLLIDED, SEVERING THE CESSNA'S NOSE GEAR & DAMAGING ITS PROP & RGT MAIN GEAR. THE HELICOPTER ENTERED AN UNCTLD DSCNT & CRASHED. THE CFI TOOK CTL OF THE CESSNA & LNDD ON RWY 9R.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA87FA236
- Event ID
- 20001213X31868
- Case number
- MIA87FA236
- 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: 42fa7a0d55f4f9833e865d08c357acce11ec1983d8c5c29bff004d701630e71e; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:00:29.000Z.