NYC87FA027 · Piper PA-31-325
Piper PA-31-325 and Aviation East Cessna 152 · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC87FA027
- 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
- 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 · Piper PA-31-325
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- 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
- N200GG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD), Providence, RITo Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, 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
Aircraft 2 · 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
- N5535H
- Operator
- Aviation East
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Friends Ultralightport (MA07), Norfolk, MATo 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
- 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 Mansfield, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
PIPER PA-31, N200GG, WAS ON A VFR FLT TO BOSTON, MA. THE PA-31 PLT CONTACTED BOSTON TRACON & ADZD HE HAD ATIS INFO & WOULD BE LNDG AT BOSTON. TRACON SUGGESTED A HDG & ALT OF 070 DEG & 2500' FOR RWY 33R & TOLD THE PLT TO MAINT VFR. AT APRX THE SAME TIME, A STUDENT & INSTRUCTOR (CFI) WERE ON A LCL INSTRUMENT TRAINING FLT IN THE AREA. THE STUDENT WAS IN THE L SEAT, WEARING A VIEW LIMITING DEVICE. THE 2 ACFT CONVERGED IN VFR WX & COLLIDED AT APRX 2600'. THE PA-31 WAS ON A NE HDG; THE CESSNA WAS ON A NW HDG. DRG IMPACT, THE TOP OF THE PA-31'S VERTICAL STABILIZER HIT THE LWR LEFT SIDE OF THE CESSNA'S FUSELAGE, INJURING THE STUDENT'S L LEG & DAMAGING THE CESSNA'S RGT MAIN GEAR. BOTH ACFT LNDD SAFELY, EXCEPT THECESSNA SWERVED OFF THE RWY DRG THE LNDG ROLL. THE PA-31 WAS SQUAWKING CODE 4640 WITH MODE C (ALT RPRTG). THE CESSNA WAS TRANSPONDER EQUIPPED, BUT DID NOT HAVE MODE C CAPABILITY. ITS TRANSPONDER WAS SET AT 1200, BUT WAS ACTUALLY SQUAWKING 1270. THE RADAR CTLR WAS UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE CESSNA AS POTENTIAL CONFLICT. NO RADIO CONTACT BTN THE CESSNA & TRACON.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC87FA027
- Event ID
- 20001213X35046
- Case number
- NYC87FA027
- 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: 45333aacd6c0616b625ec74cc97516df67264c13a44dc1e47a86481e49015cb7; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:49:43.320Z.