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Pan American World Airways Boeing 727-214 incident

27 Oct 1987 · ST CROIX

Boeing 727-214 and Carib Air Cargo Douglas DC-3 · Incident: near collision between aircraft on approach

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Event

NTSB case
MIA88IA020
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
Airline
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 · Boeing 727-214

Aircraft type
Boeing 727
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
N375PA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Miami International Airport (MIA), 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 121: Air Carrier
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
Near collision between aircraft
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Aircraft 2 · Douglas DC-3

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-3
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
N80617
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU), San Juan, PRTo 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 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
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
Near collision between aircraft
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Instructions, written/verbal, not followed
  • Pilot in command › VFR procedures, not followed
  • Pilot of other aircraft › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Instructions, written/verbal, not followed
  • Pilot of other aircraft › VFR procedures, not followed

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

PAA FLT WAS ON VISUAL APCH AND IN CONTACT WITH APCH CONTROL WHO INFORMED FLT OF TWO ACFT AHEAD ALSO ON VISUAL APCH. THE CONTROLLER OFFERED VECTORS TO CLEAR TRAFFIC. PAA FLT ELECTED ON CONTINUE CURRENT HEADING. THE TWO PRECEDING ACFT WERE ON TWR FREQ GIVING POSITION ADVISORIES FOR THE TWR WAS CLOSED. THE PAA FLT ELECTED TO STAY ON APCH CONTROL FOR ASR ASSIST. AS THE FLT CLOSED ON THE SECOND ACFT IT REQUESTED VECTORS AWAY. THE CONTROLLER STATED THEIR TARGETS HAD MERGED AND HE WAS NO LONGER SEEING EITHER OF THE OTHER ACFT. SHORTLY AFTER THIS THE SECOND ACFT WAS OBSERVED OFF THE RIGHT NOSE SLIGHTLY BELOW AT 150 TO 175 FEET. THE PAA FLT PERFORMED A CLIMBING LEFT TURN AND CLEARED THE OTHER ACFT. THE PAA FLT THEN CIRCLED AND LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT AFTER THE OTHER TWO ACFT LANDED. COMPANY PROCEDURES CALLED FOR THE PAA FLT TO MONITOR THE TWR FREQ FOR TRAFFIC AND GIVE POSITION REPORTS WHEN THE TWR WAS CLOSED. THIS WAS NOT DONE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA88IA020
Event ID
20001213X32388
Case number
MIA88IA020
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: local date, investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1987-10-28.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: a63cd18056b1c0eb63d3002856be953cda6f7f43b650d19e4933210f1d7ccc38; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:36:13.824Z.