Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Worton, Maryland 21678
Thursday, March 25, 2010 13:04 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On March 25, 2010, at 0904 eastern daylight time, an operational error occurred at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) when Continental Airlines flight 239 (COA239), a Boeing 737-800, en route from Miami, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey, and N909JE, a Gulfstream II en route from Palm Beach, Florida, to Teterboro, New Jersey, passed within 1.04 miles laterally and 300 feet vertically over Worton, Maryland. Both aircraft were operating on instrument flight plans in class A airspace under control of ZDC. Required minimum separation between the aircraft was 5 miles and 1000 feet. There was no damage reported to either aircraft and no injuries to passengers or crew.
When interviewed, the R12 controller stated that she turned the GII east to avoid entering restricted airspace over Aberdeen, Maryland. The heading issued to avoid the restricted area put the GII on a converging heading with the B737, with both aircraft descending to FL240. Minimum separation occurred as both aircraft descended through FL279 and FL276, respectively, with 1.04nm lateral separation.
Review of the R12 controller's training records showed numerous recurring writeups for not maintaining positive control of situations, not taking timely action when required, and use of poor control judgment. Similar issues contributed to the loss of separation between the B737 and GII.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The R10/12 controller issued an improper vector and descent clearance to the GII that put the airplane on a coverging flight path with the B737. Contributing to the incident was the failure of the FAA's training program to correct ongoing controller performance deficiencies before certifying the D10/12 controller to work without immediate supervision.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 3/25/2010 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1304 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | Worton |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 21678 |
| Event Date Year | 2010 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0760600W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | -- |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27248 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Continental Airlines |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 19 2010 9:18AM |
| User who most recently changed record | rows |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- | -- |
| NTSB Number | OPS10IA014A | OPS10IA014B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | -- | -- |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- | -- |
| Damage | None | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING | GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE |
| Aircraft Model | 737 | G1159B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 804 | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- | 151 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- | -- |
| 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 | -- | 22 |
| Number of Engines | 2 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| 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 | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- | 103 FOULK RD STE 202 |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- | 19803-3742 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | No |
| Operator Name | -- | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- | 103 FOULK RD STE 202 |
| Operator City | -- | WILMINGTON |
| Operator State | -- | DE |
| Operator Country | USA | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- | 19803-3742 |
| Operator Code | CALA | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | CALA014A | -- |
| 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 | -- | -- |
| Departure Airport Code | -- | -- |
| Departure City | -- | -- |
| Departure State | -- | -- |
| Departure Country | -- | -- |
| Departure Time | -- | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- | -- |
| Destination City | -- | -- |
| Destination State | -- | -- |
| Destination Country | -- | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 18 2010 6:38PM | Jun 7 2010 11:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | duns | rows |
| Since inspection or accident | -- | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- | -- |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |