DCA85IA003 · Boeing VC-137B-BN
Boeing VC-137B-BN and Mooney M20C · Incident: near collision between aircraft on approach
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's flight rules. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA85IA003
- 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
- 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 · Boeing VC-137B-BN
- Aircraft type
- Boeing VC-137
- 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
- USAF
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Spokane International Airport (GEG), Spokane, WATo King County International Airport - Boeing Field (BFI), Seattle, WA
- 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
- Approach · IFR initial approach
- 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 · Mooney M20C
- Aircraft type
- Mooney M20
- 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
- N6507U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From S44 · Spanaway, WATo Skykomish State Airport (S88), Arlington, WA
- 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
- 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
- Copilot/second pilot › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, delayed
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, delayed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING ARRIVAL, A BOEING VC-137B-BN, USAF #58-6970, OPERATING AS AIR FORCE 2 (AF-2), WAS CLEARED FOR A LOCALIZER BACK- COURSE APCH. AT 1442:49, TRACON ADVISED AF-2 OF TRAFFIC AT ITS 10 O'CLOCK POSITION AT 2 MI, ALT UNKN. AT 1443:11, TRACON ADVISED AF-2 THE TRAFFIC HAD MOVED TO ITS 11 O-CLOCK POSITION AT 1-1/2 MI. AF-2 ACKNOWLEDGED BOTH TRANSMISSIONS. AT 1443:29, AF-2 ADVISED THAT THE FLT WAS CHANGING ITS FREQ TO BOEING TOWER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE ACFT CMDR OF AF-2, SEATED IN THE RIGHT, SAW THE TRAFFIC, A MOONEY M20C, N6507U, ON A COLLISION COURSE. HE TOOK CONTROL & INITIATED EVASIVE ACTION. THE PLT OF N6507U WAS CRUISING AT 2,500 FT OUTSIDE THE SEATTLE TCA & DID NOT SEE AF-2, WHICH HAD CONVERGED FROM HIS RIGHT REAR AREA. THE MOONEY'S #1 RADIO WAS INOP & ITS #2 RADIO ANTENNA HAD BEEN VANDALIZED, THUS THE PLT WAS NOT IN RADIO CONTACT WITH ATC. THE LAST DIGIT/WHEEL ON HIS TRANSPONDER WAS STUCK ON '5' & CODE 1205 WAS BEING TRANSMITTED. THE TRANSPONDER HAD NO MODE 'C' ALT REPORTING CAPABILITY. ALL OF THE BACKCOURSE APCH WAS OUTSIDE THE TCA.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA85IA003
- Event ID
- 20001214X41328
- Case number
- DCA85IA003
- 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: 4fb343e178b4159f88874ef61a0fa20bf326338aeba651f206ed603dc2f1262c; retrieved 2026-09-23T18:56:11.756Z.