ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 37364
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| Date: | Wednesday 22 December 1999 |
| Time: | 14:50 |
| Type: |  Cessna 172R Skyhawk |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N672DW |
| MSN: | 17280770 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Leominster, MA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Nashua-Boire Field, NH (ASH) |
| Fitchburg Municipal Airport, MA (FIT) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
A Cessna 172P, N96273, and a Cessna 172R, N672DW, were destroyed after they suffered a mid-air collision during a visual flight rules approach to Fitchburg Municipal Airport (FIT), Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and impacted terrain in Leominster, Massachusetts. The certificated private pilot in the Cessna 172P was fatally injured, and the certificated student pilot in the Cessna 172R was seriously injured. The private pilot had been conducting landings in a left traffic pattern, while the student pilot had been inbound on an instructional solo flight from Boire Field (ASH), Nashua, New Hampshire. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
The private pilot was conducting landings in a left traffic pattern to Runway 32, and the student pilot was inbound on an instructional solo flight. The student pilot called that he was 4 miles north-northeast of the airport, and shortly thereafter, the private pilot called his downwind leg. The private pilot's airplane completed the downwind leg, then turned onto base, then onto final. On final, the student pilot's airplane overtook it, and then collided with it. The propeller from student pilot's airplane cut through the top of its right wing, and the left strut from the student pilot's airplane impacted its right fuselage. The two airplanes locked together, then made a slow, approximately 160-degree turn while descending rapidly to the ground, about 2,000 feet from the approach end of runway. The airport did not have an operating control tower, and turns in the traffic pattern were to the left. At the time of the collision, the sun was about 90 degrees to the left of the airplanes, about 12 degrees above the horizon. The private pilot in the Cessna 172P was fatally injured, and the student pilot in the Cessna 172R was seriously injured.
Probable Cause: The student pilot's failure to see and avoid the private pilot's airplane. Factors included the student pilot's non-standard traffic pattern entry, the private pilot's failure to check for other traffic before turning onto final, and the position of the sun at the time of the accident.
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001212X20303&key=1
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:23 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 14-Dec-2017 10:02 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2020 06:38 | Anon. | Updated [Total fatalities, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2020 06:41 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative] |
| 01-Jul-2020 06:42 | harro | Updated [Narrative] |
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