OPS17IA021 · Cessna 172S S
Cessna 172S S and Piper PA 32R-301 · Incident: air traffic event on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- OPS17IA021
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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 172S S
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N520ER
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Lakefront Airport (NEW), New Orleans, LA
- Aircraft age
- About 16 years (built 2001)
- 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 go-around
- 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
- Air traffic event
- 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 · Piper PA 32R-301
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N43WW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lakefront Airport (NEW), New Orleans, LATo Lakefront Airport (NEW), New Orleans, LA
- Aircraft age
- About 36 years (built 1981)
- 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
- Not recorded
- 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
- Not recorded
- 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 from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The incident sequence began after N43WW departed runway 36 right and was instructed to enter right closed traffic and N520ER reported east of the Lakefront Airport for landing. The air traffic control services provided by the control tower operator caused the incident. The services provided during the sequencing and spacing of the two aircraft landing on the runway were not in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration Joint Order (FAA JO) 7110.65, Air Traffic Control, directives. When the pilot of the N520ER reported 6.5 nautical miles east of the airport, the air traffic controller instructed the pilot to enter a right base for runway 36 right. N43WW was already established in the downwind for runway 36 right, both aircraft were maneuvering for runway 36R and no instruction or traffic advisories were issued by ATC to ensure sequencing and spacing to the runway. The pilot of N520ER initiated a go around and subsequently overflew N43WW which was on landing rollout on the runway. The closest proximity between the two aircraft on final approach was estimated to be about 516 feet. The FAA JO 7110.65, Air Traffic Control, paragraph 3-8-1 requires air traffic controllers to establish a sequence of landing traffic to avoid collisions at the runway and to ensure proper spacing. Additionally, when the conflict alert activated, the controller did not issue a required safety alert or traffic advisory for the conflict.
Probable cause
The air traffic controller not following Federal Aviation Administration directives to establish sequencing and spacing between aircraft operating to the same runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record OPS17IA021
- Event ID
- 20170512X01905
- Case number
- OPS17IA021
- 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, coordinates, 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: d752a162f5cc17f3fe1940901b5581ed7cbbea024059adf9f281e6b6e7759f15; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:26:39.522Z.