1985 Teterboro mid-air collision
Nabisco Brands Dassault FALCON 50 and Air Pegasus Piper PA-28-181 · Mid-air collision
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA86AA004
- 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
- Unknown
- Event fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 1
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 8 · all on the ground
- 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 · Dassault FALCON 50
- Aircraft type
- Dassault FALCON 50
- 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
- N784B
- Operator
- Nabisco Brands
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From MMV · Morristown, NJTo Teterboro Airport (TEB), TETERBORO, NJ
- 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 91F: Special Flt Ops.
- 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 · circling (IFR)
- First occurrenceThe 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
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Piper PA-28-181
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N1977H
- Operator
- Air Pegasus
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Essex County Airport (CDW), Caldwell, NJTo not recorded
- 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
- First occurrenceThe 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Crew/group coordination, inadequate
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Traffic advisory, improper
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On November 10, 1985, a Dassault Falcon 50 executive jet belonging to Nabisco Brands Inc. and a Piper Cherokee collided over
Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Six people died in the accident: all five aboard both aircraft and one person on the ground; another eight were injured.
Accident
At approximately 5:22 p.m., the Dassault Falcon 50 and the Piper Cherokee collided as the jet approached for landing at Teterboro Airport and the Piper was flying over the airport on a west to east course. The Dassault was cleared for a standard instrument approach in visual meteorological conditions and made a left turn to position itself on the downwind leg to runway 19. The collision occurred at approximately 1,500 feet. The two aircraft fell into the residential areas of Fairview and Cliffside Park, New Jersey and the subsequent impact of the aircraft into neighborhood buildings caused fires and panic.
Events following the Crash
During a news conference shortly after the accident, an official described the turn as an unusual course and speculated that the jet's pilot had previously reported a visual sighting of the Piper to the Teterboro tower just prior to the collision.
On the night of the collision three bodies - the pilot of the Piper, Marlon J. Moss (26), and the bodies of Henry Nocha Sr. and his wife, Lucia - were recovered from aboard the Cherokee and taken to Bergen County Morgue. Three further bodies were recovered amongst rubble during the day of the 11th, those of the pilots of the jet, Gregory L. Miller (37) and Alan K. Stitt (31), and the ground fatality Abdul Taha (34).
It was confirmed that two buildings had been leveled by the jet and subsequent outbreaks of fire had destroyed four more buildings before they could be put under control.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded the accident was caused by a breakdown in coordination among FAA air traffic controllers and the inability of the crew of the jet to see and avoid the other aircraft, because of misleading information from air traffic control and oncoming darkness. The NTSB recommended that the FAA improve communication procedures among controllers and provide training for its personnel at Teterboro to qualify the airport for an upgrade to a radar approach control system.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1985 Teterboro mid-air collision” (revision 1350735315, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
DASSAULT FALCON 50 (D50), N784B, WAS ON VOR/DME-A APCH AT DUSK TO CIRCLE/LND AT TETERBORO (TEB), AS PIPER PA-28, N1977H,WAS TRANSITING ARPT TRAFFIC AREA (ATA) FM WEST TO EAST AT 1500' IN VFR (NO FLT PLN). PA-28 PLT WAS CLRD THRU ATA BY TEB TWR (STAYING BLO TCA FLOOR AT 1800'). LCL CTLR (LC) WAS ALSO HANDLING SVRL OTR ACFT & RDO FREQ WAS CONGESTED. ARTS COM- PUTER DIDN'T ACQUIRE D50'S EARLY DEP FM MORRISTOWN. TRACON HAD COORDINATED D50 ARRIVAL WITH TEB TWR, BUT TWR COORDINATOR& CLNC DELIVERY CTLR FAILED TO SPECIFICALLY NOTIFY THE LC. LC WAS SURPRISED WHEN D50 CREW (ARRIVING AT A SOMEWHAT FAST SPEED) CONTACTED HIM. LC GAVE TRAFFIC INFO TO D50 CREW, BUT PROVIDED MISLEADING ADVISORY CONCERNING THE PA-28'S DRCTN OFFLT. SUBSEQUENTLY, D50 & PA-28 CONVERGED & COLLIDED AT EDGE OF ATA, 4.5 MI ESE OF ARPT. D50 CRASHED IN APARTMENT BLDG, KILLING 1 & INJURING 2. EVIDENCE OF BREAKDOWN IN ATC COORDINATION; ATC MANAGEMENT AT TEB FAILED TO RECOGNIZE & CORRECT OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS. BRITE RADAR AT TEB TWR DID NOT DISPLAY ALPHA-NUMERIC DATA OR RANGE MARKS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1985 Teterboro mid-air collision
- Revision
- 1350735315 · 2026-04-23 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q65090430
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA86AA004
- Event ID
- 20001214X38212
- Case number
- DCA86AA004
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1985 Teterboro mid-air collision" (page 54065112, revision 1350735315); merged with NTSB case DCA86AA004 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA86AA004: events.ev_date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA86AA004
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA86AA004: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record DCA86AA004: operated under Part 91F: Special Flt Ops., Part 91: General Aviation
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities (the NTSB record states no total)
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA86AA004: events.inj_f_grnd
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "1985 Teterboro mid-air collision" and NTSB case DCA86AA004, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- The date is the UTC date the NTSB stores; the local date may be a day earlier.