Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Burlington Twp., New Jersey 06016
Wednesday, August 9, 2000 7:52 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, N27944, operated by Patuxent Airways, Inc., Hollywood, Maryland, and a Piper PA-44-180 Seminole, N2225G, operated by Hortman Aviation Services, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were destroyed when they collided in flight over Burlington Township, New Jersey. The airline transport pilot, commercial pilot, and seven passengers aboard the Navajo Chieftain were killed, as were the flight instructor and the private pilot aboard the Seminole. Day visual meteorological conditions existed at the time of the accident, and both airplanes were operating under visual flight rules when the collision occurred. The flight crews of both airplanes were properly certificated and qualified in accordance with applicable Federal regulations. None of these individuals was experiencing any personal problems or rest anomalies that would have affected their performance. The airplanes had undergone the required inspections. Examination of their maintenance documents revealed that both airplanes complied with all appropriate airworthiness directives. Evidence gathered from the wreckage indicated that neither airplane had experienced an in-flight fire, bird strike, or structural or mechanical failure. Tissue samples revealed that the pilot of the Seminole had taken doxylamine sometime before the accident. (Doxylamine is a sedating antihistamine that has substantial adverse effects on performance.) However, the amount of blood available for analysis was insufficient for determining exactly when the pilot may have ingested the medication or whether his performance was impaired by the effects of doxylamine. A partial cockpit visibility study revealed that the Seminole would have been visible to the pilots in the Chieftain for at least the 60 seconds before the collision. No stereo photographs from a Seminole cockpit were available to determine precise obstruction angles. However, because of the relative viewing angle, the Chieftain would have been visible to the pilots in the Seminole for most of the last 60 seconds. The study further revealed that about 4 seconds before impact, or about .11 nm separation, the angular width of each airplane in each pilot's field of vision would have been approximately 0.5 to 0.6 degrees or about 1/4 inch apparent size at the windscreen.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the pilots of the two airplanes to see and avoid each other and maintain proper airspace separation during visual flight rules flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/9/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 752 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | BURLINGTON TWP. |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 06016 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | Yes |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 753 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KTTN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 11 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 11 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12968 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NER-A |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 9 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2003 8:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N27944 | N2225G |
| NTSB Number | DCA00MA080A | DCA00MA080B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No | No |
| Damage | Destroyed | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31 NAVAJO | PA-44 SEMINOLE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31 NAVA | PA-44 SEMI |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7000 | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 10 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 14 2000 12:00AM | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Patuxent Airways, Inc. | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 40 | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hollywood | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20636 | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No | -- |
| Operator Name | PATUXENT AIRWAYS, INC | HORTMAN AVIATION SERVICES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 40 | -- |
| Operator City | HOLLYWOOD | -- |
| Operator State | MD | -- |
| Operator Country | USA | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 20636 | -- |
| Operator Code | -- | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TTN | PNE |
| Departure City | TRENTON | PHILADELPHIA |
| Departure State | NJ | PA |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | 746 | 745 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | NHK | -- |
| Destination City | PATUXENT | -- |
| Destination State | MD | -- |
| Destination Country | USA | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 29 2003 3:20PM | Jan 29 2003 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | HAUT | HAUT |
| Since inspection or accident | -- | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |