Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
William P Hobby Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Houston, Texas 77061
Sunday, November 6, 1988 10:03 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
DRG A GILCO ONE ARRIVAL (STAR), PAN AMERICAN FLT 511 WAS CLRD BY HOUSTON APCH CTL TO DSCND & MAINT 6000'. AS FLT 511 WASINBOUND (TRAVELING WEST) ON THE STAR AT 6000' & 250 KTS, IT CONVERGED WITH A CESSNA 172 OR 182 ABOUT 10 MI EAST OF THE ARPT. THE CESSNA WAS ON A WNW COURSE AT 6000' NEAR THE ARPT SERVICE AREA (ARSA). AS THE 2 ACFT WERE CONVERGING, THE FLT ENGINEER IDENTIFIED THE CESSNA AHEAD & THE CAPT TOOK EVASIVE ACTION BY TURNING LEFT. FLT 511 PASSED THE CESSNA WITH AN ESTIMATED 100 YDS OF SEPN. THE CESSNA PLT WAS NOT IN RADIO COMMUNIATION WITH APCH CTL, NOR WAS HOUSTON RADAR RCVG A TRANSPONDER REPLY FROM THE CESSNA. THE UPPER LIMIT OF THE ARSA WAS AT 4000' MSL. THE CAPT OF FLT 511 RPRTD A NEAR COLLISION TO THE CTLR. THE CTLR ACKNOWLEDGED & ADVISED HE WAS AWARE OF THE TRAFFIC, BUT JUST DID NOT ISSUE AN ADVISORY. RADAR DATA VERIFIED THAT THE UNIDENTIFIED CESSNA HAD BEEN MANEUVERING IN A BUSY AREA ABOUT 10 MI EAST OF HOUSTON/HOBBY ARPT (ALONG THE GILCO ONE ARRIVAL ROUTE) WITH NO TRANSPONDER DISPLAY.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
POOR PLANNING/DECISION BY THE UNIDENTIFIED CESSNA PILOT BY MANEUVERING IN BUSY AIRSPACE NEAR THE ARSA WITH NO ATC COORDINATION OR TRANSPONDER SIGNAL; NO TRAFFIC ADVISORY BEING ISSUED BY THE APPROACH CONTROLLER; AND INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT BY THE FLIGHT CREW OF THE BOEING 727. A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR WAS THE LACK OF AIR/GROUND COMMUNICATION BY THE UNIDENTIFIED PILOT.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/6/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1003 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | HOUSTON |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77061 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | WILLIAM P HOBBY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HOU |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 10 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 96 |
| Airport Elevation | 47 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 952 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 96 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HOU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 47 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 53 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5099 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 7 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39109 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N386PA |
| NTSB Number | FTW89IA016 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 727 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 727 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 19973 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 191500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 134 |
| Number of Engines | 3 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 200 PARK AVE. |
| Aircraft Owner City | NEW YORK |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 10166 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | PAAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MIA |
| Departure City | MIAMI |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HOU |
| Destination City | HOUSTON |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |