Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
66 Nm East Of Hobe Sound, Florida
Thursday, November 11, 2010 22:31 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A Boeing 737-800 and an Airbus 319 were transiting Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) airspace on nearly opposite direction crossing courses when a loss of separation between the two airplanes occurred. The pilots of both airplanes received resolution advisories from the airplanes’ Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems and took the advised actions to reestablish required separation.
The airplanes were operating in the same Miami ARTCC sector, but were under the control of two different air traffic controllers when the loss of separation occurred. The first controller, who was originally handling the Airbus 319, stated that, although the airplane had not yet left the incident sector, he had transferred responsibility for the airplane to the second controller. After doing so, the first controller dropped the data tag for the Airbus 319 from his radar display and became occupied with other duties. One of those additional duties involved handling the Boeing 737 that had just entered the incident sector, transferred by the controller who was now responsible for handling the Airbus 319. The first controller did not maintain awareness of the Airbus's position, and he did not notice the impending conflict with the Boeing 737 when he subsequently cleared that airplane to climb to the Airbus’ altitude.
The second controller, who transferred control of the Boeing 737 to the first controller, had dropped the data tag for that airplane from his radar display when it left his sector. He was not aware of the conflict between the two airplanes until the radar conflict alert activated. At that time, both controllers attempted to resolve the situation, but a loss of separation occurred. At the closest point, the airplanes were within about 1,800 feet vertically and 2.81 miles laterally of each other. Federal Aviation Administration standards require minimum separation of either 2,000 feet vertically or 5 miles laterally between aircraft operating on instrument flight rules.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Air traffic controllers did not maintain required awareness of available flight data and aircraft positions, resulting in issuance of an incorrect altitude clearance that caused a loss of standard instrument flight rules separation between the two aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 11/11/2010 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2231 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | 66 NM East of Hobe Sound |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2010 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | |
| 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 | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| 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) | 29996 |
| NTSB Notification Source | DAL Flight Safety |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 5 2012 12:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | duns |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- | -- |
| NTSB Number | OPS11IA101A | OPS11IA101B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | -- | -- |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes | Yes |
| Damage | None | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING | AIRBUS |
| Aircraft Model | 737-832 | A319 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | 111 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30835 | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 189 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 2 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1775 AVIATION BLVD DEPT 595 | North West 53rd Street Suite 111 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ATLANTA | Miami |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30354-3743 | 33166 |
| 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 | 1775 AVIATION BLVD DEPT 595 | North West 53rd Street Suite 111 |
| Operator City | ATLANTA | Miami |
| Operator State | GA | FL |
| Operator Country | USA | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 30354-3743 | 33166 |
| Operator Code | D02M | ANCF |
| 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 | -- | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- | ANCF173C |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TNCA | IAD |
| Departure City | Oranjestad | -- |
| Departure State | -- | -- |
| Departure Country | AA | USA |
| Departure Time | -- | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ATL | SKBO |
| Destination City | ATLANTA | Bogotá |
| Destination State | GA | -- |
| Destination Country | USA | CO |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 5 2012 12:34PM | Jun 5 2012 12:33PM |
| User who most recently changed record | duns | duns |
| Since inspection or accident | -- | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |