FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

TWA McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 incident

5 Dec 1987 · Baltimore, MD, United States

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 and Richard Drewyer, MD Piper PA-28R · Incident: near collision between aircraft while maneuvering

Show on map Search Wikipedia NTSB source dataset
Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
BFO88IA012
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 · McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32

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
N924L
Operator
TWA
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Baltimore, MDTo Capital City Airport (HAR), Harrisburg, PA
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
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
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 · Piper PA-28R

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
N9418N
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, PATo College Park Airport (CGS), College Park, MD
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
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

  • Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Radar separation, inadequate
  • Atc personnel(dep/apch) › Traffic advisory, delayed

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

TWA FLT 388 (DC-9, N924L) WAS IN CLOUDS CLIMBING TO 7000' WHEN BALTIMORE (BWI) TRACON ADZD THAT AN ACFT (PIPER PA-28R) WAS STRAIGHT AHEAD AT 3 MI DSCNDG FM 6700'. FLT 388 HAD PASSED 6000' & THE CAPT REQUESTED A TRAFFIC AVOIDANCE VECTOR. THE TRACON CTLR INSTRUCTED FLT 388 TO LVL AT 6000' & TURN LEFT TO 270 DEGS, BUT BY THAT TIME, FLT 388 WAS AT 6400'. AS FLT 388 WAS TURNING LEFT, IT BROKE OUT OF CLOUD TOPS & THE AIRCREW SAW THE PIPER PA-28 AT THEIR ONE O'CLOCK POSITION. THE TWA CREW TOOK EVASIVE ACTION. THE TWA CAPT SAID THE PIPER PA-28 PASSED APRX 500' TO 1000' LATERALLY WITH NO VERTICALSEPARATION. THE PIPER PILOT SAID HE SAW FLT 388 AS IT CAME OUT OF THE CLOUD TOP IN A LEFT TURN. HE ESTIMATED THAT FLT 388 PASSED WITH APRX 3/4 MI SEPARATION. THE PIPER WAS VFR & FLT 388 WAS IFR & FLYING IN THE BWI ARSA. THE PLTS OF BOTH ACFT WERE IN CTC WITH BWI TRACON, BUT THEY WERE ON DIFFERENT RADIO FREQS & WERE BEING HANDLED BY DIFFERENT CTLRS. FLT 388 WAS BEING HANDLED BY A TRAINEE CTLR.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO88IA012
Event ID
20001213X32670
Case number
BFO88IA012
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, damage. 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: f9ae70e7f5c92cfb5926b274ecc463eb34f48f80d4fedc20d527e048af83afec; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:34:44.767Z.