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DCA85AA026 · Beech E18S

20 Jun 1985 · Birmingham, AL, United States

Beech E18S and Usaf McDonnell Douglas RF-4C · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while standing

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Event

NTSB case
DCA85AA026
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
Charter & commuter
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 · Beech E18S

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 18
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
N19T
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Birmingham, ALTo Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, GA
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
Standing · engine(s) operating
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
On ground/water collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Aircraft 2 · McDonnell Douglas RF-4C

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
AFNG
Operator
Usaf
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
Armed Forces
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
Landing · landing roll
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
On ground/water collision with object
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) › Atc clearance, improper
  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Diverted attention
  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Identification of aircraft visually, not performed
  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Mental performance overload
  • Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Visual separation, not maintained
  • Atc personnel(supervisor) › Supervision, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

AT 2045 THE MILITARY FLT, DIXIE 06, CONTACTED BIRMINGHAM APCH & OBTAINED CLEARANCE FOR A LOW APCH FOLLOWED BY A FULL-STOP LNDG ON RWY 05. AT 2053, DIXIE 06 REPORTED A 4 MILE FINAL FOR A LOW APCH TO THE LOCAL CONTROLLER. AT 2054:19, THE LOCAL CONTROLLER CLEARED ABX 74, N19T, '...TAXI POSITION AND HOLD FIVE.' ABX 74 WAS AWAITING TAKEOFF INSTRUCTIONS ONRWY 05 WHEN THE COLLISION OCCURRED. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE LOCAL CONTROLLER FORGOT ABX 74. SHE BECAME PREOCCUPIED WITH OTHER TRAFFIC USING RWY 36. THE LOCAL CONTROLLER TERMED THE TRAFFIC AS BUSIER THAN NORMAL FOR A NIGHT OPERATION. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT, THE TOWER WAS STAFFED WITH 2 AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AND AN AIR TRAFFIC ASSISTANT. NO SUPERVISOR OR COORDINATOR WAS AVAILABLE IN THE CAB TO DETECT CONTROLLER OVERLOAD AND OFFER ASSISTANCE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DCA85AA026
Event ID
20001214X36733
Case number
DCA85AA026
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. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-06-21.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 8470406203f4acf39a1c217d170706bb925217a0e3c63f82a62b982a6212df0d; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:25:40.711Z.