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:

A midair collision involving a Cirrus SR22 and a Swearingen Metroliner was attributed to both pilot error and air traffic control's failure to communicate.
The Cirrus pilot maintained excessive airspeeds (up to 148 knots, significantly above the recommended 80-95 knots) during the approach, causing an increased turn radius that led it to veer into the Metroliner's airspace.
The air traffic controller managing the Metroliner's approach failed to issue a required traffic advisory about the Cirrus, violating FAA procedures for parallel runway operations.
Despite substantial damage to both aircraft, there were no fatalities; the Cirrus deployed its emergency parachute and the Metroliner landed safely.

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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.