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 2023 ground collision at William P. Hobby Airport involved a Hawker 850XP taking off without clearance, striking a landing Citation Mustang on an intersecting runway.
The NTSB cited the Hawker crew's "expectation bias"—believing they received a takeoff clearance that was not issued—and distractions from aircraft system warnings as contributing factors to the unauthorized takeoff.
Additional contributing factors included the control tower's failure to issue a required traffic advisory to either aircraft and the Hawker's inoperative Cockpit Voice Recorder, 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.