NTSB Issues Preliminary Report On Fatal Nevada Midair

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has published its preliminary report on the fatal midair collision of a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage and a Cessna 172N Skyhawk at Nevada’s North Las Vegas airport (VGT) last month. The report confirmed that the Piper, identified as N97CX, had been instructed by air traffic control to fly left traffic for Runway 30L while the Cessna, N160RA, had been instructed to fly right traffic for Runway 30R. The board found that the aircraft collided approximately 0.25 nautical miles from the approach end of runway 30R. ADS-B data published in the report, shown in the image above, suggests that both aircraft were lined up for 30R.

N160RA was operating as a local VFR training flight and N97CX as an IFR flight inbound from Idaho’s Coeur d'Alene Airport (COE). The report noted that N97CX had been instructed to overfly VGT at midfield for left traffic to runway 30L and cleared for a visual approach. N97CX was transferred from Nellis Radar Approach Control to VGT air traffic control about six minutes before the crash. N160RA requested a short approach to 30R, which was subsequently approved by ATC, around four minutes before the accident. Prior to the crash, N160RA was cleared for the option on 30R and N97CX was cleared to land on 30L. Both clearances were verbally acknowledged.

Each aircraft had two people onboard, all of whom were killed in the collision. As previously reported by AVweb, the accident took place at about 12:04 p.m. local time on July 17. The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing.