The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its preliminary report on a July 17, 2022, mid-air accident in Las Vegas that killed four people.
A Piper PA-46-350P, N97CX, and a Cessna 172N, N160RA, were destroyed when they were involved in an accident at North Las Vegas Airport (KVGT).
Both planes were maneuvering to land at the airport around noon when the accident occurred.
N97CX had been instructed by air traffic control (ATC) to fly left traffic for Runway 30L and N160RA had been instructed to fly right traffic for Runway 30R. The airplanes collided about 0.25 nautical miles from the approach end of Runway 30R.
N97CX was operating as an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight and had departed from Coeur d’Alene Airport-Pappy Boyington Field (KCOE) in Idaho with two souls aboard.
N160RA was operating as a visual flight rules (VFR) training flight at KVGT with a CFI and student pilot aboard.
N160RA was in the VFR traffic pattern for Runway 30R, flying a right-hand traffic pattern and communicating with the KVGT local controller. N97CX was inbound from the north on an IFR flight plan from KCOE.
Minute by Minute
At 11:56:08, the Nellis Radar Approach Control air traffic controller cleared N97CX for the visual approach and instructed the pilot to overfly KVGT at midfield for left traffic to Runway 30L. Responsibility for air traffic control for the flight was transferred from Nellis Radar Approach Control to KVGT at 11:58:26.
At 11:58:43, the pilot of N97CX contacted the KVGT local controller and reported “descending out of 7,600 feet msl for landing on three zero left and ah Nellis said to cross midfield.” The VGT local controller responded, “continue for three zero left.” The pilot acknowledged and stated, “okay continue for runway three zero left nine seven charlie x-ray we will cross over midfield.”
At 12:00:03, the pilot of N160RA requested a “short approach.” The KVGT local controller transmitted “zero romeo alpha short approach approved runway three zero right cleared for the option,” which was acknowledged by N160RA.
At 12:01:36, the KVGT local controller transmitted “november seven charlie x-ray runway three zero left cleared to land.” The pilot of N97CX responded “three zero left cleared to land nine seven charlie x-ray.”
At 12:01:57, the KVGT local controller transmitted “seven charlie x-ray I think I said it right runway three zero left seven charlie x-ray runway three zero left.”
At 12:02:02 the pilot of N97CX transmitted “yeah affirmative runway three zero left that’s what i heard nine seven charlie x-ray.”
There were no further transmissions from either airplane.
The Damage
Examination of N97CX revealed that it hit the other plane in a nose low, right wing down attitude.
The landing gear was down, and the right main landing gear was displaced outboard.
The right wing displayed an impact separation around wing station 93. The right inboard wing section remained attached to the fuselage, but was canted aft. The right wing flap was fractured about midspan. The inboard section remained attached to the wing and was found in the extended position. The outboard half of the flap was found about 10 feet forward of the right wing.
The right wing leading edge displayed a series of crush impressions to the leading edge about 2.5 feet outboard of the wing root. The impressions contained flakes of green primer, and cuts to the de-ice boot.
The outboard right wing section remained attached to the inboard wing by the aileron control cables. The aileron remained attached to the outboard wing section, but was damaged by the impact. The outboard leading edge was crushed up and aft. Longitudinal scratches were visible along the right side of the fuselage.
Examination of N160RA revealed that the airplane hit terrain in a left-wing and nose-low attitude before coming to rest inverted on a 304° magnetic heading. Both inboard portions of the wings sustained thermal damage in the areas surrounding the fuel tanks. The cabin and fuselage, except for the cabin roof, were consumed by a post-impact fire.
Blue paint transfer was observed on the lower surface of the separated outboard left wing and the lower surface of the left wing flap. Black de-ice boot material transfer was observed on the lower surface of the separated outboard left wing, the lower surface of the attached portion of the left wing at approximately wing station 100, and for an approximate 5 feet long distance outboard of the strut attach point, along the lower leading edge.
About 4 feet of the left wing, which included the left aileron, was separated from the wing, and was found on the edge of a culvert just south of the main wreckage. The left outboard wing section aft of the forward spar was separated near the aileron-flap junction. The left wing flap also was separated from the wing.
The wreckage of both airplanes was retained for further examination.
NTSB officials note the report contains preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. Final reports usually take about 18 months to be released.
The runways, parallel or not did not cause this accident. From what I read it is clear that 97CX was not in control of his plane. We are called pilots for a reason, we pilot the plane. The runway does not.
An unstablized approach ends with a mid air. Crossing the field at 150 kts is way too fast. The pilot hardly had time to descend and turn to land, let alone see the airplane on his right while he was looking left for the wrong runway. Too much speed, overshoot, lack of SA, unfortunately the three element accident chain is starkly evident here. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
That’s the whole point. 97CX, even after acknowledging 30L THREE TIMES, was lining up for 30R.
The ABSB-out track was listed on an AOPA article.
The Malibu crossed mid-field at 150 kts and made a sweeping left circle, so the pilot should have been able to see both runways from the mid-field cross.
It flew the ‘downwind’ at 140 kts and was at 124 kts on short final when it hit the Cessna, doing 65 kts.
So, this pilot was ‘hot’ all the way in the partial, tight pattern it flew, and about 24 kts faster than the POH recommends , 85 kts, on final.
So, more stupid pilot tricks killed 4 people.
Am I the only pilot that thinks two planes landing on two runways left and right is just an accident waiting to happen
Except that it happens probably thousands of times every day worldwide. I will say though, that most of these operations are from straight-in instrument approaches in VMC, and each pilot has confirmed having the parallel aircraft in sight.
If that image is accurate, it looks like 97CX was flying toward 30R rather than 30L.