MIA03FA124 · Cessna 172N

N4903F, a Cessna 172N, and N759XA, a Cessna 182Q, collided while in cruise flight, during daylight visual meteorological conditions, in class E airspace, over the Atlantic ocean, about 300 yards east of the Deerfield Beach pier, Deerfield Beach, Florida. The airplane wreckages descended, impacted the ocean, and came to rest in about 38 feet of water. Both airplanes were destroyed, and all occupants received fatal injuries. The Cessna 172 had departed Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport about 1835, and had proceeded north. He had contacted PBI TRACON for authorization and radar advisory service, and was assigned a transponder code of 0205. At 1942:07, when preparing to exit PBI's airspace, the PBI controller instructed the pilot of Cessna 172 to remain on the same transponder code, and told him that radar service was terminated, and to contact Boca tower, "one one eight point four two for transition." The pilot of the Cessna 172 read back the frequency, and acknowledged. At this time radar indicated the Cessna 172 was about 10 miles south of PBI, and about 8 miles north-northeast of BCT. At 1943:30 radar indicated that the Cessna 172's transponder code changed from 0205 to 1200. At 1944:25, the pilot of Cessna 172 contacted Boca Raton tower (BCT) and said, "Skyhawk four niner zero three foxtrot, about seven miles north over the shoreline, would like to, to Lauderdale Executive, would like to transition your airspace please." The controller said, "zero three fox I believe that is, transition southbound approved, the altimeter two nine nine six, report east." The pilot of the Cessna 172 read back the altimeter setting. At 1942, the pilot of the Cessna 182 had left the Bahamas , and he had landed and cleared customs in Fort Lauderdale, and was at the time of the accident continuing on to his final destination, Boca Raton, Florida. At 1946:25, the pilot of Cessna 182 contacted Pompano Beach tower (PMP) and advised that he was "northbound, VFR along the beach landing Boca Raton." The PMP controller acknowledged and advised the pilot to "report passing east of the field." At 1948:46, the pilot of N47DM, an uninvolved airplane, called BCT tower, and requested to taxi to the active runway. The controller acknowledged and the pilot said he would like to pick up his IFR clearance. During this radio communications exchange, radar indicated the Cessna 172 passed east of BCT, and there was no record of the pilot of the Cessna 172 having reported his position, east. At 1949:05, the pilot of the Cessna 182 transmitted to the Pompano (PMP) tower controller, "reporting east of the field." Radar indicted the Cessna 182 was about 2 miles east of PMP about that time. The PMP tower controller responded and instructed the pilot to contact Boca Raton (BCT) tower, and the pilot acknowledged. At 1949:11, the BCT controller read the IFR clearance to the pilot of N47DM, an uninvolved pilot, and the pilot read back the clearance. While the pilot of N47DM was reading back the IFR clearance on the ground control frequency, the pilot of the Cessna 182 was transmitting on the local control frequency saying, "seven five niner x-ray alpha good evening." At 1949:34, on the ground control frequency, the BCT controller said, "that is correct", and less than three seconds later, on the local control frequency, he said, "roger, no reported traffic south, frequency change approved, good night." At this time, radar indicated the Cessna 172 was 3 miles south southeast of BCT at 1,000 feet, and the Cessna 182 was 2 miles northeast of PMP at 1,000 feet. The airplanes were about 5 miles apart on opposite courses. At 1949:44, the pilot of Cessna 182 repeated, "even five niner x-ray alpha good evening." The BCT controller responded, "Cessna calling say again", to which the pilot repeated the information, and the controller confirmed the call sign. The pilot acknowledged and said, "one thousand feet, VFR northbound along the beach, six and a half miles to the south, landing Boca." The controller acknowledged and instructed the pilot to enter and report a two mile right base for runway 5, and the pilot of the Cessna 182 acknowledged. There was no record of the BCT controller informing the pilot of the Cessna 182 of the whereabouts of the southbound Cessna 172, or of any potential traffic conflicts. At 1950:37, radar indicated the Cessna 172 exited the BCT Class D airspace at 1,000 feet, and at the same time, the Cessna 182 exited the PMP Class D airspace at 900 feet, with both airplanes being less than one mile apart, and on opposite courses. Radar indicated that the airplanes collided between 1950:52 and 1950:57. Postcrash examination of both accident airplanes did not reveal any preaccident anomalies.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset