CEN09LA491 · Cessna 182J
Cessna 182J and Mooney M20C · Accident: midair collision on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN09LA491
- 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
- 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 · Cessna 182J
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 182
- 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
- N989TP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Belmond Municipal Airport (Y48), Belmond, IATo Iowa Falls Municipal Airport (IFA), Iowa Falls, IA
- 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 final
- Defining eventThe 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
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Mooney M20C
- Aircraft type
- Mooney M20
- 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
- N3206F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eldora Airport (6C0), Eldora, IATo Iowa Falls Municipal Airport (IFA), Iowa Falls, IA
- 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 final
- Defining eventThe 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The Cessna pilot stated that he announced his position on the approach to the airport starting about 11 miles out and continuing until he was on final approach. While on final, he noticed a Swift airplane holding on the taxiway for runway 31. He said that he heard a radio transmission that stated, “There are two airplanes landing.” He said that he immediately heard and felt a bang. He reported, “My aircraft turned sideways some and came on down to the runway.” The pilot of the other aircraft, a Mooney, stated that he announced his position on the approach to the airport while entering the downwind for runway 31. He said, “The only traffic observed was an airplane holding at taxiway intersection.” He said that he was ready to reduce power to land when his left wing rose violently. He stated that he lost consciousness, woke up thinking of fire, turned off switches, and became unconscious again before waking up in the emergency room. He reported that the purpose of the flight was to get the airplane to the airport for its annual inspection. An examination of the Mooney showed collision witness marks on its upper surfaces indicative of the Cessna impacting from above. An examination of the Cessna showed collision witness marks on its lower surfaces. 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.113 states, in part, "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
Both pilots' failure to execute adequate visual lookout, resulting in the two airplanes colliding over the runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN09LA491
- Event ID
- 20090804X43510
- Case number
- CEN09LA491
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: cbe9fd722a304940051ad21e3ee42cab9eec255295a7d1034bbfdda28684d6ed; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:15:31.299Z.