Expectation Bias Contributes to Texas Runway Collision

NTSB final report cites distracted pilots and an inoperative cockpit voice recorder played a role in a 2023 ground collision at Hobby Airport.

Meg Godlewski

Monday, October 27, 2025 at 03:30 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Aft view of the Citation damage to its empennage [Credit: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

A ground collision occurred at William P. Hobby Airport when a Hawker 850XP began takeoff without clearance, striking a Citation Mustang that had just landed on an intersecting runway.
The Hawker crew's expectation bias led them to mistakenly believe they had received a takeoff clearance, despite only being cleared to "line up and wait."
Contributing factors included distractions from in-flight system warnings (rudder bias, elevator trim) during the unauthorized takeoff, and an inoperative cockpit voice recorder on the Hawker, which hindered the investigation.

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Expectation bias played a factor in the 2023 ground collision between a Raytheon Hawker 850XP and a Textron Aviation 510 Citation Mustang at William P. Hobby Airport (KHOU) in Houston in 2023.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final report, on October 24 at 3:20 p.m. CDT in VFR conditions, the Citation had just landed on Runway 13R and was rolling out when its vertical stabilizer was struck by the left wing tip of the Hawker, which was taking off from Runway 22.