CHI07FA243 · Beck P-51A
Beck P-51A and North American P-51D · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI07FA243
- 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
- 1 · 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 · Beck P-51A
- Aircraft type
- Beck P-51
- 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
- N8082U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, WITo Wittman Regional Airport (OSH)
- 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 · landing roll
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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 · North American P-51D
- Aircraft type
- North American P-51
- 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
- N151RJ
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), Oshkosh, WITo Wittman Regional Airport (OSH)
- 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 · landing roll
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
An amateur-built P-51A Mustang (call sign "Precious Metal") collided with the tail section of a North American P-51D Mustang (call sign "Stang") as it was landing on runway 36 during the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture 2007 Oshkosh (OSH) air show. The airplanes were part of a five-aircraft air race demonstration event. The demonstration air race was completed and the five aircraft were in the process of landing separately (not in formation). The pilot of Stang reported that he thought the pilot of Precious Metal was departing the pattern and not landing at OSH. He reported that Stang was about two miles past the runway threshold on downwind at 700 - 800 feet agl, when he observed Precious Metal on a base leg about 1,000 feet agl on a southwesterly heading with its gear and flaps retracted. Stang turned inbound for landing on runway 36. Precious Metal turned inbound for landing behind Stang and transmitted "Precious Metal, one mile final," but Stang did not hear the transmission. The airplanes collided as Stang started its landing roll. Interviews with the air race demonstration pilots revealed there was confusion concerning the information discussed in the team brief prior to the race. The team representative reported that he briefed that Stang should land first, but two of the race pilots reported that they did not hear that discussed in the brief. Also, the team representative briefed that Precious Metal intended to land, refuel, take on a passenger, and then depart OSH for another nearby airport. The FAA had "waivered" the airspace, which made the air show Air Boss responsible for the air show operations, but he was not responsible for providing aircraft separation. The Air Boss did not observe the two P-51's on short final, because his attention was on an airplane taxiing near the air show center. The air traffic control tower was not in operation during the air show because the airspace was waivered, and the Air Boss was responsible for air/ground radio communications with the airplanes. No warning was given to the pilots concerning the lack of separation between the airplanes. Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) 91.113 (g) Right-of-Way Rules state: "When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land or to overtake that aircraft."
Probable cause
The P-51A pilot's inadequate visual lookout and his failure to maintain clearance from the P-51D. Contributing factors to the accident included the restricted forward visibility of the P-51A, the air race team representative's inadequate flight brief, the failure of the air boss to recognize the lack of separation between the airplanes on short final, and the diminished air/ground radio communications during the air show.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI07FA243
- Event ID
- 20070801X01080
- Case number
- CHI07FA243
- 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, coordinates. 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: 92648e3c0573c52b39fd8778d2d7deca50fa3f2a8165c4e57153d1787aca1d11; retrieved 2026-09-20T16:25:33.613Z.