Mid-air collision Accident Cessna 172N N4686G,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 46002
 
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Date:Thursday 15 February 2001
Time:15:40
Type:Silhouette image of generic C172 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Cessna 172N
Owner/operator:Long Beach Flight Academy
Registration: N4686G
MSN: 17273312
Year of manufacture:1979
Fatalities:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:Long Beach, CA -   United States of America
Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Long Beach, CA (LGB)
Destination airport:Long Beach, CA (LGB)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
A midair collision occurred between the Cessna 152 and a Cessna 172, which were flying between 800 and 1,000 feet above the ocean in an established student training practice area. The flight instructors and their respective students lost control of their airplanes, which descended into the ocean and sank. An eyewitness in a ship observed the airplanes seconds prior to the collision. The witness stated that "one plane appeared to bank and turn directly into the other plane." Another witness, who was airborne in a helicopter, reported that before the impact he had observed one of the airplanes performing counterclockwise orbits, like a turn about a point ground reference maneuver. This airplane had completed several circles when it collided with another airplane that was flying in a westerly direction. Neither the Cessna 152's empennage nor the Cessna 172's engine was recovered. Radar tracks for the airplanes could not be determined. The collision occurred in a near head-on trajectory, based upon the severity of the impact damage to the leading edge of the Cessna 152's right wing, the lack of impact damage in the Cessna 172's aft fuselage and empennage, the witness statements, and the locations where the airplanes were found (the Cessna 152 was west of the Cessna 172).




Probable Cause: The failure of the flight crews of both airplanes to maintain adequate visual lookout for traffic.

Sources:

NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20010228X00524&key=1

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
28-Oct-2008 00:45 ASN archive Added
21-Dec-2016 19:24 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
10-Dec-2017 10:33 ASN Update Bot Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative]

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