Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
Tuesady, June 17, 2003 19:51 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

N4903F, a Cessna 172N, and N759XA, a Cessna 182Q, collided while in cruise flight, during daylight visual meteorological conditions, in class E airspace, over the Atlantic ocean, about 300 yards east of the Deerfield Beach pier, Deerfield Beach, Florida. The airplane wreckages descended, impacted the ocean, and came to rest in about 38 feet of water. Both airplanes were destroyed, and all occupants received fatal injuries. The Cessna 172 had departed Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport about 1835, and had proceeded north. He had contacted PBI TRACON for authorization and radar advisory service, and was assigned a transponder code of 0205. At 1942:07, when preparing to exit PBI's airspace, the PBI controller instructed the pilot of Cessna 172 to remain on the same transponder code, and told him that radar service was terminated, and to contact Boca tower, "one one eight point four two for transition." The pilot of the Cessna 172 read back the frequency, and acknowledged. At this time radar indicated the Cessna 172 was about 10 miles south of PBI, and about 8 miles north-northeast of BCT. At 1943:30 radar indicated that the Cessna 172's transponder code changed from 0205 to 1200. At 1944:25, the pilot of Cessna 172 contacted Boca Raton tower (BCT) and said, "Skyhawk four niner zero three foxtrot, about seven miles north over the shoreline, would like to, to Lauderdale Executive, would like to transition your airspace please." The controller said, "zero three fox I believe that is, transition southbound approved, the altimeter two nine nine six, report east." The pilot of the Cessna 172 read back the altimeter setting. At 1942, the pilot of the Cessna 182 had left the Bahamas , and he had landed and cleared customs in Fort Lauderdale, and was at the time of the accident continuing on to his final destination, Boca Raton, Florida. At 1946:25, the pilot of Cessna 182 contacted Pompano Beach tower (PMP) and advised that he was "northbound, VFR along the beach landing Boca Raton." The PMP controller acknowledged and advised the pilot to "report passing east of the field." At 1948:46, the pilot of N47DM, an uninvolved airplane, called BCT tower, and requested to taxi to the active runway. The controller acknowledged and the pilot said he would like to pick up his IFR clearance. During this radio communications exchange, radar indicated the Cessna 172 passed east of BCT, and there was no record of the pilot of the Cessna 172 having reported his position, east. At 1949:05, the pilot of the Cessna 182 transmitted to the Pompano (PMP) tower controller, "reporting east of the field." Radar indicted the Cessna 182 was about 2 miles east of PMP about that time. The PMP tower controller responded and instructed the pilot to contact Boca Raton (BCT) tower, and the pilot acknowledged. At 1949:11, the BCT controller read the IFR clearance to the pilot of N47DM, an uninvolved pilot, and the pilot read back the clearance. While the pilot of N47DM was reading back the IFR clearance on the ground control frequency, the pilot of the Cessna 182 was transmitting on the local control frequency saying, "seven five niner x-ray alpha good evening." At 1949:34, on the ground control frequency, the BCT controller said, "that is correct", and less than three seconds later, on the local control frequency, he said, "roger, no reported traffic south, frequency change approved, good night." At this time, radar indicated the Cessna 172 was 3 miles south southeast of BCT at 1,000 feet, and the Cessna 182 was 2 miles northeast of PMP at 1,000 feet. The airplanes were about 5 miles apart on opposite courses. At 1949:44, the pilot of Cessna 182 repeated, "even five niner x-ray alpha good evening." The BCT controller responded, "Cessna calling say again", to which the pilot repeated the information, and the controller confirmed the call sign. The pilot acknowledged and said, "one thousand feet, VFR northbound along the beach, six and a half miles to the south, landing Boca." The controller acknowledged and instructed the pilot to enter and report a two mile right base for runway 5, and the pilot of the Cessna 182 acknowledged. There was no record of the BCT controller informing the pilot of the Cessna 182 of the whereabouts of the southbound Cessna 172, or of any potential traffic conflicts. At 1950:37, radar indicated the Cessna 172 exited the BCT Class D airspace at 1,000 feet, and at the same time, the Cessna 182 exited the PMP Class D airspace at 900 feet, with both airplanes being less than one mile apart, and on opposite courses. Radar indicated that the airplanes collided between 1950:52 and 1950:57. Postcrash examination of both accident airplanes did not reveal any preaccident anomalies.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

This case was revised 6/10/2005. The failure of the pilot of N4903F, the Cessna 172, and the pilot of N759XA , the Cessna 182, to see and avoid each other while operating in Class E airspace, resulting in a midair collision. Contributing to the accident was the lack of traffic information being provided to the pilot of the Cessna 182 about known traffic in the vicinity, due to the controller forgetting about the Cessna 172's reported path and altitude.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 6/17/2003
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1951
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Deerfield Beach
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 33441
Event Date Year 2003
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator Yes
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 261800N
Event Location Longitude 0800300W
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 1945 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 330
Weather Observation Facility ID BCT
Elevation of weather observation facility 13
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 4
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 4500
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 29
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 24
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 160
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.96
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal 5
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 5
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 17781
NTSB Notification Source Broward County Sheriff's Offic
NTSB Notification Date Jun 17 2003 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 2005
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Jun 8 2005 12:51PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft #2

Aircraft Registration Number N4903F N759XA
NTSB Number MIA03FA124A MIA03FA124B
Missing Aircraft Indicator -- --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None None
Flight plan Was Activated? No No
Damage Destroyed Destroyed
Aircraft Fire None None
Aircraft Explosion None None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna Cessna
Aircraft Model 172N 182Q
Aircraft Series Identifier -- --
Aircraft Serial Number 17273100 18266330
Certified Max Gross Weight 2300 2950
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 4 4
Number of Engines 1 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour Annual
Date of Last Inspection Jun 7 2003 12:00AM Sep 3 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 20 --
Airframe Hours 8853.7 2208
ELT Installed Yes Yes
ELT Activated No No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No No
ELT Type -- --
Aircraft Owner Name Gulfstream Academy of Aeronautics Flying Double Eagle Inc.,
Aircraft Owner Street Address 5302 NW 21st Terrace P.O. Box 177
Aircraft Owner City Fort Lauderdale Boca Raton
Aircraft Owner State FL FL
Aircraft Owner Country USA USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 33309 33429
Operator is an individual? No No
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 -- --
Owner has at least one certificate None None
Other Operator of large aircraft? -- --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation -- --
Operator Certificate Number -- --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not -- --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight -- --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail -- --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Personal Personal
Second Pilot on Board No No
Departure Point Same as Event No No
Departure Airport Code FXE FLL
Departure City Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale
Departure State FL FL
Departure Country USA USA
Departure Time 1835 1940
Departure Time Zone EDT EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere --
Destination Airport Code FXE BCT
Destination City -- Boca Raton
Destination State -- FL
Destination Country -- USA
Specific Phase of Flight Cruise - normal Cruise - normal
Report sent to ICAO? No No
Evacuation occurred No No
Date of most recent change to record -- --
User who most recently changed record -- --
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA NA
Runway Length -- --
Runway Width -- --
Sight Seeing flight No No
Air Medical Flight No No
Medical Flight -- --