Avantair Piaggio Industrie P180 incident

On June 17, 2007, at 1720 Coordinated Universal Time, 1320 Eastern daylight time, Avantair (VRN) flight 152, a Piaggio P180 and N6026K, a Cirrus SR-22, nearly collided in the intersection of runways 19 and 24 at Teterboro Airport (TEB), Teterboro, New Jersey. VRN152 was operating under 14 CFR Part 135 as a domestic non-scheduled on-demand air taxi on an instrument flight plan destined for Martin State Airport, Baltimore, Maryland (MTN). VRN152 was not carrying passengers at the time. N6026K was operating under 14 CFR Part 91 and was on a visual flight rules flight plan. There were no injuries reported to the any of the crew or passengers on either aircraft. VRN152 reported no damage to the aircraft; however, the tires, wheels and brake assemblies had to be replaced post incident. There was no damage to N6026K.

VRN152 was assigned transponder code 7153; N6062K was assigned transponder code 0330.

At 1719:02, VRN152 transmitted to the Teterboro tower controller, "and Avantair one five two is ready ah for [runway] two four." The tower controller replied, "Avantair one five two, runway two four, cleared for takeoff." The pilot acknowledged the clearance. VRN152 departed from the approach end of runway 24.

At 1719:42, the pilot of N6026K transmitted to the same tower controller and said, "n two six kilo is ready to go [on runway 19] at [taxiway] bravo." The tower controller replied, "Cirrus two six kilo left turn northeast bound maintain at or below one thousand, runway one niner cleared for takeoff." The pilot responded, "ok left turn northeast bound and at or below one thousand ah cleared to go two kilo six." At 1720:28, N6026K transmitted, "and two six kilo we have an open door we're just gonna stop here for one second if that's possible." The tower controller did not acknowledge this transmission.

During the following 18 seconds, according to the VRN152 pilot's statement, the pilot of VRN152 observed N6026K on a potential collision course and applied maximum braking and retarded engine power. The ground speed of VRN152 was approximately 106 knots. With the brakes locked up, and as the two aircraft approached one another, the pilot of VRN152 applied right rudder in an attempt to minimize the impact and hit N6026K in the tail section vice a direct broadside hit at the wings. The pilot of VRN152 stated that his aircraft passed "what seemed like just feet behind the Cirrus and it took a few moments" for the pilot to realize he had not collided with the Cirrus. VRN152 continued down runway 24, where the pilot was able to maintain directional control until the tail slid out and the aircraft slid, coming to a stop approximately 3800 feet from the approach end of the runway, facing approximately on a north heading.

The pilot of N6026K recalled crossing the runway 24 intersection with 40 to 50 knots of airspeed indicated, noticed an aircraft off to his right and as he looked further, noticed it was in full braking mode and beginning to turn sideways on the runway. At this point, the pilot of N6026K was committed to his own departure and followed through with rotation. N6026K did not recall whether he slowed down or came to a complete stop during this departure evolution.

The tower controller stated he was distracted and did not observe the event, therefore he did not cancel the takeoff clearance to either aircraft; however, a comment he made alerted the other controllers in the tower cab to observe the incident.

At 1720:46, Teterboro tower transmitted "avantair one fifty two you you alright." At 1720:48, VRN 152 responded "yeah we're fine."

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset