DEN05IA025 · Blair-American USA
Blair-American USA and Cessna 152 · Incident: midair collision during landing
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN05IA025
- 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
- Unknown
- 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 · Blair-American USA
- Aircraft type
- Blair American USA
- 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
- N1518
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Childress Municipal Airport (CDS), Childress, TXTo Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL), Fort Collins, CO
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- None
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
- N5531P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL), Fort Collins, COTo Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL)
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot aboard the Blair-American, he was in the pattern behind a Piper and although he did not hear the Cessna, he was in radio communication with the Piper. He stated that he noticed a Cessna taxiing while he was on downwind for runway 33. He announced his intention to land several times while on "short final," and to advise the Piper that he was landing behind him. He became concerned that the Piper was still on the runway, but the Piper had cleared the runway before he reached the runway's threshold. With the Piper off the runway, he continued his approach, landed, and taxied to the ramp. The pilot stated that he did not see the Cessna move from the hold position and onto the runway. According to the pilot aboard the Cessna, she was holding short of the runway to allow a Piper to land. She said the Piper made a long, slow rollout. She then taxied into takeoff position. As she began her take off roll, she noticed that the Piper was still on the runway. She reduced power momentarily, and when the Piper cleared the runway, she applied full power and resumed her take off roll. At that moment, she noticed an airplane land in front of her. She reduced power, applied brakes, and stopped her airplane on the runway. According to the student pilot's instructor, the Blair-American flew over the Cessna and landed. The Blair-American continued its landing roll and taxied to the parking ramp. Airport personnel approached the pilot in the Blair-American, and informed him that he had struck another airplane during his landing. According to the FAA inspector, the Cessna sustained minor damage to one propeller blade, a ruptured left main landing gear tire, and a separated rotating beacon. The Blair-American had no discernible damage.
Probable cause
the Blair-American and the Cessna pilot's inadequate visual lookout, and student pilot's failure to give right-of-way to a landing aircraft, which resulted in a runway incursion and subsequent collision. Contributing factors include the student instructor's inadequate supervision, and the student pilot's failure to follow procedures/directives, diverted attention and inadequate radio communications.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN05IA025
- Event ID
- 20041122X01848
- Case number
- DEN05IA025
- 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: c9b2a8105058d30243ec10179afeeb0faa7e517e199d892a9dd9976bf9241f89; retrieved 2026-09-22T06:31:33.683Z.