DCA82AA012 · Swearingen SA226-T(B)
Baker Marine Construction Swearingen SA226-T(B) and Grumman AA5A · Accident: midair collision on approach
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA82AA012
- 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
- 3 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Aircraft 1 · Swearingen SA226-T(B)
- Aircraft type
- Swearingen SA226
- 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
- N336SA
- Operator
- Baker Marine Construction
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP), Corpus Christi, TXTo 56V · Oxford, NE
- 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 · circling (IFR)
- 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
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Grumman AA5A
- Aircraft type
- Grumman AA5
- 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
- N26660
- Operator
- James R. Westcot · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Victoria, TXTo Cox Airport (NC81), Apex, NC
- 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 · VFR pattern turn to base
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Rockport, TX, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
PRIOR TO THE FAF DURING A VOR/DME APPROACH, THE MERLIN WAS CLEARED TO CHANGE TO THE UNICOM FREQ. THE PLT OF THE MERLIN CONTACTED UNICOM & REQUESTED AN ARPT ADVISORY. THE UNICOM OPERATOR REPLIED THAT THERE WAS A PIREP OF 500 FT OVER THE FIELD WITH 2 MI VISIBILITY BUT "ZILCH" OVER THE WATER. SHORTLY AFTER THIS CONTACT THE PLT OF THE AA5A CALLED ON UNICOM TURNING FINAL. THE PLT OF THE AA5A WAS GIVEN THE SAME ADVISORY AS GIVEN TO THE MERLIN & FURTHER ADVISED THAT ANOTHER ACFT WAS INBOUND FOR RWY 14. THE ACFT COLLIDED LESS THAN 1 MI NW OF THE APPROACH END OF RWY 14. AIM 157 RECOMMENDS THAT VFR INBOUND FLTS BROADCAST ENTERING DOWNWIND & FINAL. AIM 363(C) RECOMMENDS THAT, WHEN MAKING AN IFR APPROACH TO AN ARPTNOT SERVED BY A TOWER OR FSS & AFTER ATC ADVISES TO CHANGE TO ADVISORY FREQ, TO BROADCAST INTENTIONS, INCLUDING TYPE APPROACH, POSITION & WHEN OVER FAF INBOUND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA82AA012
- Event ID
- 20020917X01908
- Case number
- DCA82AA012
- 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: bf702719213b3a429cf437f0bc22f9a3bbceac812f7f268fbe8ed40417454c16; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:39:11.737Z.