NTSB Releases Final Report on Colorado Midair

Excessive speed and lack of communication were to blame in the 2021 midair collision, according to NTSB.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, April 06, 2023 at 01:00 PM ET

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The Swearingen Metroliner after the accident. [Credit NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

The 2021 midair collision near Centennial Airport was attributed to pilot error by the Cirrus SR22 and a failure by air traffic control to communicate.
The Cirrus pilot flew at excessive speeds, significantly exceeding manufacturer recommendations, which caused the aircraft to overshoot its approach and veer into the flight path of the Metroliner.
The air traffic controller managing the Metroliner failed to issue a required traffic advisory regarding the Cirrus, a procedure mandated by FAA regulations for simultaneous parallel runway operations.

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Accident investigators cite pilot error and a failure to communicate by air traffic control as causal factors in the midair collision between a Cirrus SR22 and a Swearingen Metroliner near Centennial Airport (KAPA) in May of 2021. There were no fatalities as a result of the collision.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), both aircraft were on approach to parallel runways that were controlled by different controllers on different control tower frequencies at the time of the accident.