Collisions

At 15:50 Pacific time, a Beech C90 collided in midair with a Gulfstream G-159 while both aircraft were on four-mile final approaches to runway 16R at Van Nuys. Both aircraft landed safely and with no injuries to any of the occupants. The Beech was flying VFR and had been cleared to make a visual approach. The Gulfstream had been cleared for an ILS approach. The Beech pilot said he was three to four miles out on final for 16R when there was a shadow over his aircraft and the nose of the Gulfstream became visible in the top of his windshield. Immediately there was a loud bang, his aircraft rocked violently, and he thinks it turned to the right. He looked outside and saw damage to the left wi…

At 07:52 eastern time, a Piper PA-31 and a Piper PA-44 collided over Burlington Township, killing the nine people on board the Navajo and the two aboard the Seminole. Most of the PA-31 struck the garage of a house and most of the PA-44 landed in a soybean field approximately one-half mile away….

At about 09:45 eastern time, a Cessna 150L and a Pitts S-2B collided while taxiing at Leesburg Regional Airport. Neither pilot was injured. A witness said the Cessna had just landed and cleared the runway onto an adjoining taxiway. The Pitts was taxiing for takeoff. The witness said both pilots stopped their respective aircraft momentarily, but then proceeded to taxi and struck each other….

At about 15:48 eastern time, an Air Force F-16CG and a Cessna 172 collided in flight near Bradenton. The pilot of the F-16 ejected and was unhurt. The pilot of the 172 was killed. The F-16 was one of two airplanes operating on a low altitude training mission, and had filed a composite military IFR/VFR flight plan. The 172 had just taken off from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport en route to St. Petersburg and was in radio contact with Tampa Approach. Tampa cleared the pilot to climb from 1,600 to 3,500, which he acknowledged. The controller alerted the Cessna pilot to the fighter traffic 55 seconds later, but the pilot did not respond. The two F-16s had departed Moody Air Force Base a…

At 13:30 central time, an Air Tractor AT-502 and a Schweizer G-164B, both agricultural airplanes, collided in flight while landing at a private airstrip near Deerpark. The Air Tractor pilot suffered minor injuries and the Schweizer pilot was not injured. The Air Tractor was on a straight-in approach for landing north at the private airstrip and the Schweizer was inbound from the west for a north landing. The Schweizers propeller struck the top of the Air Tractors fuselage, aft of the cockpit when they were about 60 feet agl. Both airplanes struck the ground together about a quarter-mile short of the runway….

At 17:10 central time, a Cessna 150E and a Cessna 172N collided in cruise flight near Katy. The pilot of the 150 was killed and the two occupants of the 172 were uninjured. Both airplanes were on VFR cross-country flights without flight plans. The pilot of the 172 said the airplane was in level flight at 2,000 feet approximately 10 miles west of the West Houston Airport when she dialed in the CTAF to make a position report. She said she was scanning the area when she noticed an airplane approaching her airplane from the left side at a 90-degree angle. She stated that the airplane was flying at an altitude slightly below her airplanes altitude. She initiated a climb and right turn but the tw…

At 22:04 mountain time, a Piper PA-44-180T collided with a Cessna 182Q while the Piper was making a go-around and the Cessna was taxiing. No one was injured. The pilot of the Seminole apparently was making a go-around after abandoning a landing approach to runway 17L. The airplane drifted left of the runway and collided with the Cessna, which was taxiing north on taxiway Bravo. The Piper pilot then landed the airplane on the grass median between the runway and taxiway….

At 12:46 eastern time, a Piper PA-28-161 and a Piper PA-23-250 collided on final approach to runway 9 at Saint Lucie International Airport. The pilots, sole occupants of each plane, were killed. The pilot of the Warrior, a Saudi Arabian national with a private license making an instructional flight, made a touch-and-go landing and re-entered the traffic pattern. The tower controller instructed him to execute a 360-degree right turn on downwind. Meanwhile, the pilot of the Aztec reported 10 miles west inbound to the airport and was instructed to continue straight in and report crossing the interstate highway. When the Aztec pilot reported over the interstate, the tower controller told him to…

At approximately 15:15 Pacific time, a Cessna 172P that was taxiing for takeoff struck a Cessna 182J that was stopped on the taxiway with its engine running. No one was injured. The 172 pilot said he was taxiing south toward runway 16. As he approached the fuel island, he noted an aircraft fueling on the outside (taxiway side) of the fueling island. He also saw the Cessna 182 taxiing toward him. The 182 stopped abeam the fueling aircraft and, as the 172 pilot tried to taxi between the two airplanes, the 172s left wing struck the Cessna 182s left wing….

At about 10:05 eastern time, a Cessna 152 struck a standing Beech 35-B33 at Herlong Airport. The commercial-rated pilot in the Cessna and the three occupants of the Bonanza were not injured. The Cessna pilot said he was running the engine on the parking ramp in an attempt to clear some roughness prior to flight. The Bonanza pilot and passengers had boarded, but the engine had not yet been started. The Cessna pilot said his feet slipped off the brakes and the airplane moved forward and struck the Bonanza….