NTSB: Cirrus pilot erred before 2021 midair

The Cirrus overshot its turn to final and sliced through the top half of the aft fuselage of a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, which landed safely despite significant damage. Rescue crews were more surprised to find the occupants of the Cirrus unhurt and already out of the aircraft by the time first responders reached the location where the Cirrus touched down under its airframe parachute, 3 nautical miles from the airport.

Separate controllers were handling the parallel runways, and the NTSB noted that the controller handling Runway 17L did not advise the Metroliner crew of the nearby Cirrus approaching to land on Runway 17R, though the controller handling Runway 17R did advise the Cirrus of the Metroliner, as well as a Cessna that was also nearby. The Cirrus pilot’s final transmission (recorded from ATC audio) acknowledged “traffic in sight” without specifying which aircraft. Emergency vehicles were rolling toward the Cirrus within seconds of the collision, which had been observed by people on the ground and other pilots in the pattern.

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident was “the Cirrus pilot’s failure to maintain the final approach course for the assigned runway, which resulted in a collision with the Swearingen [Metroliner] which was on final approach to the parallel runway. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the controller to issue a traffic advisory to the Swearingen pilot regarding the location of Cirrus, and the Cirrus pilot’s decision to fly [at a] higher than recommended approach speed which resulted in a larger turn radius and contributed to his overshoot of the final approach course.”