GAA17CA458 · Randall Marvin L VANS RV 3A UNDESIGNAT
Randall Marvin L VANS RV 3A UNDESIGNAT and Wilts Gayle T RV-3A · Accident: ground collision while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA17CA458
- 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 · Randall Marvin L VANS RV 3A UNDESIGNAT
- Aircraft type
- Randall Marvin VANS RV 3A
- 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
- N16MR
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA), Spokane, WATo Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA), Spokane, WA
- Aircraft age
- About 29 years (built 1988)
- 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 · from runway
- 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 · Wilts Gayle T RV-3A
- Aircraft type
- Wilts Gayle RV-3
- 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
- N6GT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA), Spokane, WATo Fairchild Air Force Base (SKA), Spokane, WA
- Aircraft age
- About 34 years (built 1983)
- 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 · from runway
- 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
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilots reported that, following a formation flight and landing of four airplanes and while taxiing to park, the lead airplane reduced power to idle, and the engine quit.
After multiple attempts to restart the engine, the lead pilot signaled the other pilots to pass on the left side and continue to park. As the second airplane taxied past, the third airplane followed.
The pilots added that the third airplane's pilot had limited forward visibility due to the nose attitude of the airplane and that the pilot was unaware that the lead airplane was stationary. Subsequently, the third airplane passed the lead airplane with insufficient clearance, which resulted in the third airplane's right wing colliding with the lead airplane's left elevator and the third airplane's propeller striking the lead airplane's left wing.
The lead airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and left elevator.
The pilots reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplanes that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate clearance and visual lookout while taxiing, which resulted in his airplane colliding with the stationary airplane.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA17CA458
- Event ID
- 20170729X02433
- Case number
- GAA17CA458
- 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: 8e0f26920b4594e0f30919a702ed741407cfd364cff5ea2caa01893e745d925b; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:26:54.209Z.