Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
80 Se Of Jfk (Atlantic Ocean), New York
Thursday, January 20, 2011 22:35 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A near-midair collision occurred between a Boeing 777-200 and a flight of two US Air Force C-17s as the result of an operational error by controllers at the New York air route traffic control center (ZNY). The airplanes responded to traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) advisories, and both controllers immediately provided traffic advisories and turned each aircraft to resolve the conflict. According to recorded radar data, the three airplanes passed within approximately 0 feet vertically and .38 miles laterally from each other.
The air traffic data controller, who was the coordinator between two radar controllers, told the controller working the 777 to stop the airplane at flight level (FL) 210. Following that coordination and while still on an open line with that controller, the data controller leaned toward the controller working the two-C17s and told him to stop his flight at FL220. The controller working the 777 overheard the portion of the communication where the data controller said to stop at FL220 and believed that the instruction was meant for the 777. Therefore, the controller instructed the 777 to climb to FL220, while at the same time the controller instructed the C17s to descend to FL220. Additionally, the investigation revealed that the radar data blocks for each of the airplanes displayed incorrect assigned altitude data. The data block for the 777 indicated that the airplane was cleared to climb to FL230 and the data block for the C17s indicated that the flights were cleared to descent to 10,000 feet. Both of these were incorrect: the radar data block for all involved airplanes should have reflected the assigned altitudes of FL220.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Incomplete and incorrect coordination between air traffic controllers that resulted in the 777 and the two C17s being cleared to maintain the same altitude. Contributing to the incident was the controllers’ non-adherence to established communications phraseology and incorrect data entry into the radar data blocks for each aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 1/20/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2235 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | 80 SE of JFK (Atlantic Ocean) |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| 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 | Pilot |
| 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 | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 30359 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 25 2012 12:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | OPS11IA246 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | -- |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 777 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | -- |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4333 Amon Carter Boulevard |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Worth |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76155 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | 81 SE of JFK |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SBGR |
| Destination City | Sao Paulo |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 25 2012 12:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |