Laguardia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

New York, New York
Sunday, August 9, 1987 15:15 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

ACFT WITH SIMILAR CALL SIGNS (TWA FLTS 843H & 834; BOEING 747 & BOEING 727) APCHD JFK INTL ARPT FOR LDG. FLT 843H WAS 22MIN LATE & FLT 834 WAS 12 MIN EARLY, CAUSING SAME ARR TIME. NY TRACON VCTRD FLT 834 BHND FLT 843H. WHILE CTLG THE ACFT, JFK FINAL CTLR, INADVERTENTLY TRANSPOSED FLT NUMBERS & GAVE A VCTR FOR FLT '834H' (INTENDED FOR FLT 843H) TO TURN FINAL FOR A VOR RWY 13L APCH. FLT 843H DIDN'T READILY DETECT THE ERROR & CONTD ITS LAST ASSIGNED HDG OF 300 DEG. ABT 72 SEC LTR, FLT 843H QUERIED THE CTLR, BUT BY THAT TIME, THE CTLR NOTED HIS ERROR & GAVE FLT 843H A TURN TO REVERSE DRCTN. HOW-EVER, FLT 843H HAD ENTERED LAGUARDIA AIRSPACE & CONVERGED ON ANOTHER ACFT (PAN AM FLT 537), BOTH AT 3000'. FLT 537 WAS BEING VECTORED FOR AN ILS RWY 4 APCH TO LAGUARDIA ON ANOTHER FREQ. NOTING THE ACFT WERE CONVERGING, THE CTLRS TOLD EACH RESPECTIVE FLT TO CLIMB (WHILE THEY ATMTD TO RESOLVE THE PRBLM). FLT 537 CAME OUT OF CLDS; THE CREW SAW THE OTR ACFT, TOOK EVASIVE ACTN & PASSED WITH ABT 600' SEPN. THE JFK CTLR HAD 20/80 VISION, BUT WASN'T WEARING GLASSES AS REQUIRED.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

Not Yet Reported

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 8/9/1987
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1515
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City NEW YORK
Event State NEW YORK
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site
Event Date Year 1987
Event Date Month 8
MidAir Collision Indicator --
On Ground Collision occurred ? --
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport LAGUARDIA
Event Location Nearest Airport ID LGA
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles 0
Degrees magnetic from airport 0
Airport Elevation 22
Weather Briefing Completeness Full
Investigator's weather source Unknown
Time of the weather observation 0
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 0
Weather Observation Facility ID
Elevation of weather observation facility 0
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 0
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 3000
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) -18
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -18
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 0
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 0
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) --
Density Altitude (feet) 0
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 528
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 5084
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Aug 11 1987 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 800
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information
Date of most recent change to record Dec 18 2002 11:28AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\GIUV
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft #2

Aircraft Registration Number N93109 N558PE
NTSB Number NYC87IA227A NYC87IA227B
Missing Aircraft Indicator N N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 121: Air Carrier Part 121: Air Carrier
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? -- --
Damage None None
Aircraft Fire None None
Aircraft Explosion None None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name BOEING BOEING
Aircraft Model 747 727
Aircraft Series Identifier 747 727
Aircraft Serial Number 19675 20840
Certified Max Gross Weight 710000 191000
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 495 134
Number of Engines 4 3
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Unknown Unknown
Date of Last Inspection -- --
Airframe hours since last inspection -- --
Airframe Hours -- --
ELT Installed No No
ELT Activated No No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No No
ELT Type -- --
Aircraft Owner Name TRANS WORLD AIRLINES PAN AMERICAN
Aircraft Owner Street Address 605 3RD AVE.
Aircraft Owner City NEW YORK NEW YORK
Aircraft Owner State NY NY
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 10158
Operator is an individual? -- --
Operator Name
Operator Same as Owner? Yes Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As -- --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes Yes
Operator Street Address
Operator City
Operator State
Operator Country
Operator Zip code
Operator Code TWAA PAAA
Owner has at least one certificate Yes - certificate holder Yes - certificate holder
Other Operator of large aircraft? No No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation Unknown Unknown
Operator Certificate Number -- --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not Scheduled Scheduled
Indicates Domestic or International Flight International Domestic
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail Passenger/Cargo Passenger/Cargo
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Unknown Unknown
Second Pilot on Board Yes Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No No
Departure Airport Code MXP BOS
Departure City MILAN,ITALY BOSTON
Departure State OF MA
Departure Country
Departure Time 0 0
Departure Time Zone
Destination Same as Local Flt -- --
Destination Airport Code JFK LGA
Destination City NEW YORK NEW YORK
Destination State NY NY
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Approach Approach
Report sent to ICAO? -- --
Evacuation occurred -- --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:30AM Jan 2 2001 10:30AM
User who most recently changed record dbo dbo
Since inspection or accident -- --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 13L 4
Runway Length 10000 7000
Runway Width 150 150
Sight Seeing flight No No
Air Medical Flight No No
Medical Flight -- --