CEN16CA126 · Nakajima A6M2 MODEL 21
Nakajima A6M2 MODEL 21 and Goodyear FG1D · Accident: ground collision while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN16CA126
- 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
- 0
- 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 · Nakajima A6M2 MODEL 21
- Aircraft type
- Nakajima A6
- 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
- N8280K
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF), Midland, TXTo Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Albuquerque, NM
- Aircraft age
- About 75 years (built 1941)
- 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
- Taxi
- 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
- Ground 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 · Goodyear FG1D
- Aircraft type
- Goodyear FG1
- 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
- N209TW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Midland International Air and Space Port (MAF), Midland, TXTo Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), Albuquerque, NM
- Aircraft age
- About 71 years (built 1945)
- 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
- Taxi
- 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
- Ground 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
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The six-ship formation of vintage World War II airplanes had completed their run-ups on the taxiway and were preparing for departure. A departure clearance was received from air traffic control and the six-ship formation proceeded to the runway for takeoff. The Goodyear "Corsair" airplane was sixth in formation and trailing the Nakajima "Zero" airplane. These tailwheel airplanes required the pilots to taxi in an S-turn pattern due to the limited forward visibility. As the Corsair pilot proceeded with the S-turn taxi to the runway, the Corsair overtook the Zero and collided with its tail. The Zero spun right about 270 degrees and came to rest. The Corsair stopped quickly and its propeller impacted the taxiway. The Zero sustained substantial damage to the empennage and the Corsair sustained minor damage. The pilots conducted an accident debrief and determined that a lack of "vigilance" was to blame. Both pilots reported there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframes or engines that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The Goodyear pilot did not see and avoid the Nakajima ahead on the taxiway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN16CA126
- Event ID
- 20160316X23841
- Case number
- CEN16CA126
- 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: 89f81d1e46d535698a245d9333461283d38f27b7a0219d569b3bba1e541b300d; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:25:02.572Z.