OPS10IA020 · Boeing 777-222
Boeing 777-222 and Cessna 182R · Incident: near midair/TCAS alert/loss of separation during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- OPS10IA020
- 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
- Airline
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Aircraft 1 · Boeing 777-222
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 777
- 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
- N216UA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Francisco, CATo Beijing Capital International Airport (ZBAA), Beijing
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Near midair/TCAS alert/loss of separation
- 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 182R
- 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
- N9870E
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From UnknownTo Palo Alto Airport (kpao)
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Near midair/TCAS alert/loss of separation
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
An operational error occurred when a Boeing 777 and a Cessna 182 transiting the Class B surface area passed within approximately 480 feet laterally and 300 feet vertically of each other. Both airplanes were under control of air traffic control at the time of the incident.
Postincident investigation determined that the local controller issued a takeoff clearance to the Boeing 777 without resolving a potential conflict with the Cessna, which was southbound just west of the airport. The controller attempted to establish approved separation between the two airplanes after the Boeing departed, but was unable to do so. The pilot of the Cessna took evasive action to pass behind the Boeing. Review of tower procedures revealed deficiencies that permitted aircraft to cross the runway 28L/R departure corridor while the runways were active, facilitating conflicts of this nature.
Probable cause
The local controller's issuance of a takeoff clearance to the Boeing 777 without ensuring that approved separation would exist with the Cessna 182. Contributing to the incident were tower procedures that permitted transitioning aircraft to cross the runway 28 departure corridor at low altitude while runways 28L/R were in use.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record OPS10IA020
- Event ID
- 20100330X00627
- Case number
- OPS10IA020
- 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, 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: 9e16c3736263f73e1079ed7d269c37d6728bd044f269c6df448f0ddd1fc9b3cf; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:16:09.296Z.