Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Atlanta Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlanta, Georgia
Friday, March 11, 2011 13:21 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A Boeing 757-200 departed from Atlanta, Georgia, without its transponder activated, and the pilots did not contact air traffic controllers for about 8 minutes after departure. The airplane flew through one controller’s airspace and entered another controller’s airspace without coordination before radar and radio contact was established.
While the incident airplane’s transponder was not activated, the airplane’s radar data tag (which contained identification, altitude, and airspeed information) did not automatically appear on the controllers’ radar displays as it normally would have. Consequently, the airplane was displayed only as an enhanced primary target with no identifying information. Although local procedures require that Atlanta tower controllers verify that departures have a radar data tag before transferring communications to departure controllers, the tower controllers did not do so. Review of primary radar data determined that a loss of lateral separation occurred between the incident airplane and the following three airplanes: 1) a Beechcraft 55 (closest proximity 1.44 miles); 2) a Pilatus PC-12 (closest proximity 0.81 miles), and 3) a Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-100 (closest proximity 2.36 miles).
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The air traffic controllers’ failure to adhere to required radar identification procedures, which resulted in loss of separation between the departing Boeing 757 and three other airplanes. Contributing to the incident was the pilots’ inadequate preflight checks, which resulted in the airplane departing with an inoperative transponder.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 3/11/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1321 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ATLANTA |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Atlanta |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KATL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 20 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1026 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1252 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KATL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.17 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KATL 111752Z 28009G16KT 230V300 10SM FEW050 |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 130 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 29991 |
| 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 | Jun 5 2012 12:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | duns |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | OPS11IA410 |
| 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 | 757-232 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 29725 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 232000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 178 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| 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 | HARTSFIELD ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL |
| Aircraft Owner City | ATLANTA |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30320 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1030 Delta Boulevard |
| Operator City | Atlanta |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 30320 |
| Operator Code | DALA |
| 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 | DALA026A |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KATL |
| Departure City | ATLANTA |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1321 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KLGA |
| Destination City | New York |
| Destination State | GA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 5 2012 12:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | duns |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27R |
| Runway Length | 9000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |