FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

BFO86IA031 · Douglas DC-9-31

30 May 1986 · Calverton, NY, United States

Douglas DC-9-31 and Grumman F-14A · Incident: near collision between aircraft en route

Report a problem

Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's registration. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
BFO86IA031
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 · Douglas DC-9-31

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-9
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
N1310T
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, MATo John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Jamaica, NY
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
En route · descent
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 · Grumman F-14A

Aircraft type
Grumman F-14
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
USN
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Calverton Executive Airpark (CTO)
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 · descent
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 › Visual lookout, not maintained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

N1031T A DC-9-31, WAS IN A DESCENT FOR LANDING AT JAMAICA, NY. THE CAPTAIN REPORTED HE HEARD A NOISE THAT HE THOUGHT WAS A FAILING CABIN DOOR PRESSURE SEAL AND ADVISED THE COPILOT. THE COPILOT INDICATED HE THOUGHT THE NOISE WAS THE SOUNDOF A JET ENG. BETWEEN 1453 AND 1455, THE CREW OF N1031T OBSERVED A GRUMMAN F-14A, USN 'MANEUVER ABOVE AND AROUND' THEIR AIRCRAFT. N1031T WAS ON A HEADING OF 275 DEG AND USN WAS ON A HEADING OF 250 DEG. N1031T TURNED APPROX 15 DEG RIGHT AND USN BANKED RIGHT AND DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW. NO OTHER EVASIVE ACTION WAS TAKEN BY 1031T AND IT LANDED AT JFK AIRPORT WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. USN LANDED AT CALVERTON AND REPORTED HE OBSERVED NO CONFLICTING TRAFFIC. NEW YORK ARTCC AND NEW YORK TRACON RECORDED DATA DISCLOSED BETWEEN 1454:00 AND 1454:35 MINIMUM HORIZONTAL SEPARATION OF .7 NAUTICAL MILES OCCURRED AT 13200 FEET AND MINIMUM VERTICAL SEPARATION OF 200 FEET OCCURRED AT 12900 FEET.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO86IA031
Event ID
20001213X33489
Case number
BFO86IA031
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: 0602e9befa349d723b89627531fefec032cb835f5614010d2db69699be44ccda; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:00:04.039Z.