Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

El Cajon, California 92020
Wednesday, February 8, 2006 16:42 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

A Cessna 182Q and a Cessna 172RG, were operating in class D airspace and departed from the same airport. The Cessna 172RG was operating under instrument flight rules as an instructional flight (IFR) and receiving radar service from an approach control facility, while the Cessna 182 was operating under visual flight rules (VFR) and had been released from communication with air traffic control. The pilot undergoing instruction in the Cessna 172RG was most likely wearing a view limiting device which tasked the certified flight instructor seated in the right seat to serve as both an instructor and a safety pilot. The Cessna 172RG departed first, performing a right 260-degree turn over the airport and was assigned a southwest heading by the controller. The Cessna 182Q departed to the west and made a left turn, while climbing in a southeasterly direction. The heading assigned to the Cessna 172RG put it on a direct collision course with the Cessna 182Q, with a collision angle of 40 degrees. Following a discussion with the controller about the pilot's intentions upon completion of an approach, the controller instructed the Cessna 172RG to fly heading 190. The pilot read back, "One nine" and no further transmissions were received from the Cessna 172RG. In class D airspace, there is no specified separation requirement between VFR and IFR aircraft. However, controllers still have a responsibility to be vigilant for potential collisions between aircraft under these circumstances. This accident occurred after the controllers in communication with the Cessna 172RG had received a sustained conflict alert involving the Cessna 172RG and Cessna 182Q (operating on a VFR transponder code), but failed to recognize or resolve the conflict. Comparisons of the calculated convergence angles of the two airplanes showed that for an 85th percentile male seated in the left seat (Cessna did not create pilot view angles for pilots seated in the front right seat), the Cessna 172RG pilot was about 15 degrees outside of the right view angle and the Cessna 182Q pilot was within about 6 degrees of the left view angle.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilots of both airplanes failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout due to their relative flight paths, which limited the available visual cues. Factors were the failure of the air traffic controller(s) to issue a conflict alert to the Cessna 172RG after repeated visual and aural warnings of an impending collision and the task load of the certified flight instructor.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 2/8/2006
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 1642
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City El Cajon
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 92020
Event Date Year 2006
Event Date Month 2
MidAir Collision Indicator Yes
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 324713N
Event Location Longitude 1165908W
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 --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1647 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 360
Weather Observation Facility ID KSEE
Elevation of weather observation facility 388
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 3
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 20000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 20000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Thin Broken
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 25
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 23
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 260
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 8
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 --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal 3
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 3
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 21116
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Feb 8 2006 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Mar 26 2007 9:33AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\lema
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office WP-SAN-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft #2

Aircraft Registration Number N9531B N759KE
NTSB Number LAX06FA106A LAX06FA106B
Missing Aircraft Indicator -- --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR None
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes No
Damage Destroyed Destroyed
Aircraft Fire Ground Ground
Aircraft Explosion None None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Cessna Cessna
Aircraft Model 172RG 182Q
Aircraft Series Identifier -- --
Aircraft Serial Number 172RG0859 18266048
Certified Max Gross Weight 2650 2950
Aircraft Category Airplane Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class -- --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? 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 Retractable Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour Annual
Date of Last Inspection Nov 1 2005 12:00AM Feb 1 2006 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 66 3
Airframe Hours 5429 2958.87
ELT Installed Yes Yes
ELT Activated No No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No No
ELT Type -- --
Aircraft Owner Name Scandinavian Aviation Academy, Inc. Signal Mountain Aviation, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 8665 Gibbs Dr. Suite 110 --
Aircraft Owner City San Diego Wilmington
Aircraft Owner State CA DE
Aircraft Owner Country USA USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 92123 19810
Operator is an individual? No No
Operator Name -- William Kupiec
Operator Same as Owner? Yes No
Operator Is Doing Business As -- --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes No
Operator Street Address -- --
Operator City -- La Jolla
Operator State -- CA
Operator Country -- USA
Operator Zip code -- 92037
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) Instructional Personal
Second Pilot on Board Yes No
Departure Point Same as Event Yes Yes
Departure Airport Code KSEE KSEE
Departure City El Cajon El Cajon
Departure State CA CA
Departure Country USA USA
Departure Time 1637 1638
Departure Time Zone PST PST
Destination Same as Local Flt -- --
Destination Airport Code KSDM KSDM
Destination City Brown Field San Diego
Destination State CA CA
Destination Country USA USA
Specific Phase of Flight Climb - to cruise Climb - to cruise
Report sent to ICAO? -- --
Evacuation occurred -- --
Date of most recent change to record Feb 12 2007 4:09PM Feb 12 2007 4:09PM
User who most recently changed record STAM STAM
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 -- --