San Diego Accident

Midair Collison between Cessna 172M, N1285U and Experimental Sabreliner, NA265-60SC, N442RM
Brown Field Municipal Airport San Diego, California August 16, 2015
WPR15MA243AB
Animation disclaimer
This computer animation depicts overhead view of the motion of the airplanes leading up to the collision. The airplane motion is synchronized with an audio recording of Air Traffic Control (ATC) radio communications between Brown Tower and aircraft in the pattern at Brown Field. The animation also displays content from a written transcript of the ATC communications in text blocks, as described below.
The animation is based on information extracted from the Sabreliner flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), recorded radar data, the ATC transcript, and wreckage site evidence. To increase their visibility, the airplanes are shown four to five times larger than actual size relative to the airport surroundings. The animation does not depict the weather or visibility conditions at the time of the accident.
The movements of the airplanes over a satellite image of the underlying terrain is shown at the center of the screen. The scale of the background image is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) is displayed in the upper right corner. The animation begins at 11:00:00 PDT and ends at 11:03:10 PDT, the time of the collision. The airplanes are identified by registration number labels adjacent to each airplane symbol.
The transcript of ATC communication from Brown Tower appears on the left half of the screen at the times indicated in the transcript. The transcript of radio communication originating from each airplane is displayed next to the corresponding airplane symbol at the time of each event.
The ATC transcript is provided below. Times are indicated in the transcript in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), with PDT = UTC - 7 hours.

[@ImGolden]

This crash was particularly close to home for me, as 1285U was one of my favorite planes to fly. It was a great little bird. RIP to all on board the planes.

[@briandamschen8931]

I was "in attendance" at R. J. Donovan when this mishap occurred, was actually referring a soccer game on the B yard at the time. Heard the engines and impact. Looked up just in time to see immediate aftermath: Front half of Cessna was gone, fireball replacing the engine. The Jet, travelling at a much higher rate of speed dove almost straight down. Insulation, papers, and other light debris continued to rain down into the field just outside of the facility. I stopped the soccer game, myself and others feeling the despair at the loss of life we had just witnessed. The crash caused a loss of power for the facility and were soon in lock-down mode. This happened several years ago, but it still haunts me today, still able to see the planes in my mind.

[@smaze1782]

Controller was way overloaded there. You could just hear it in his voice. 6ZP was leaving the area. Why would they not question the controller as to why they needed to make a 360? RIP to all those involved.

[@TheGoldenTrout]

Plus his snarky remarks didn't do him any favors

[@daveg5520]

Clearly the controller made a mistake.... but I think the FAA is partially to blame for overloading this guy. One person can only keep track of a certain number of aircraft, this guy was WAY too busy to be safe

[@DowneasterProductions]

Dave G and most planes have near same call signs so it can get confusing

[@daveg5520]

Excellent point Downeaster.... 85 Uniform, 58 Uniform.... you gotta be shitting me!

[@dylconnaway9976]

Dave G Technically, since Eagle 1 said he had the aircraft in sight, it is his responsibility to maintain visual separation. Many tower controllers don't have radar services either, so they have to visualize where the traffic is. Saying "traffic in sight" relieves to controller of having to worry about separation.

[@daveg5520]

Dyl... another great point, yeah I heard that acknowledgement and obviously the Sabreliner lost sight of 85uniform. Eagle1 should have told the tower he lost sight, something aircrews are reluctant to do. But the twr controller was still too busy, otherwise he may have been able to see the potential for collision and stop it.

[@dylconnaway9976]

Dave G Oh, no doubt. We have this beautiful ADS-B like video^, and I am still having trouble keeping track of everyone. I can't imagine...

[@frankiefernandez5252]

I was working that day (Sunday) and looked up just as the planes collided. It was a very big fireball. The entire front half of the Sabre was falling intact. The Cessna disintrigated on impact. My thoughts while watching the Sabre tumble to earth was that there was around 4 to 6 rows of windows visible and I thought there were many more passengers. Several coworkers made statements to the Federal Investigators that showed up afterwards. Sad and shocking day. The air traffic controller simply lost track of so many planes. Extremely demanding job and you have to bring your A game to work every day or people may die. Not sure if he's totally to blame.

[@stevokennedy2383]

He was overwhelmed and overloaded

[@penguin44ca]

Poor controller. Handling take-off and arrival And ground work. Too much.

[@TheGoldenTrout]

He wasn't working ground, it's 2 runways, arrival to the right, holding short the left waiting to cross to talk to ground.

[@vagrante13]

I flew that plane about a month before this incident. I was training to get my instrument rating and that plane had the old fashioned flap actuator which you had to count one one thousand, two one thousand, etc... In my only training flight in that plane, I did an approach at Brown Field.

[@Saltlick11]

Sad. Lots of blame to go around here but fundamentally the controller was indeed overloaded, so you could say he was not at fault. As a pilot entering a busy pattern, you have to know where your traffic is in pattern and if you don't you need to notify ATC as such. See and be seen is critical in this traffic area - but this guys was trying to manage chaos and it's really unfortunate for all concerned.

[@rtraub1]

URL for NTSB investigation full final report: app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20150816X60452&AKey=2&RType=Final&IType=MA Primary cause of the accident was a series of mistakes by the local air-traffic controller in issuing instructions and interpreting pilots' replies regarding three of the six airborne craft he was handling. The controller had taken over ATC handling only 3 minutes before the collision, was evidently not yet fully situationally orientated and noticeably stressed by the volume of traffic in his airspace and active on the airfield (9 in total). In addition, the investigation identified likely visibility obstacles in the "see-and-avoid" flight-rule that pilots were relying upon in the vicinity.

[@bobmillerick300]

Having SDM be home field for many years, I can tell you that 2 things were very obviously wrong here. The pilot was unfamiliar with the field. Why in the world would you make a Right downwind departure with that much traffic in the pattern? You're going to be flying head on right into traffic turning base to final. There is nothing out to the East of the airport except a prison to see. The mountains rise quickly and I can just about assure that a 172 won't be comfortable trying to climb over them. The other thing that went wrong here is the tower controller LET him make that downwind departure. Why in gods name would he do that? A right crosswind departure to the North is the standard departure at this airport.

[@louisvilleslugger3979]

What is an "experimental" Sabreliner???

[@daveg5520]

Louisville... it had experimental avionics on board and was contracted by the Navy. But you are correct to question the term since the airframe itself was not "experimental"

[@davidshelton7208]

Dave G yes but to install those avionics probably required an experimental airworthiness certificate to be issued, hence the callsign.

[@Zildawolf]

85U and 58U... christ, poor guy

[@chrisj197438]

A problem I think is that they talk too fast on the radio. I had to slow down the playback speed to understand most of it. I can only imagine how it is in real time communications.

[@MrEastern021]

seems to me that the Saberliner "Eagle 1" was traveling much too fast for such a close proximity to the traffic. The controller should have slowed him down.

[@YouTube.TOM.A]

If you do not clearly undestand that when you fly VFR [ or IFR in some cases ] you are primorily responcible for see and avoid navigation, supplimented by traffic advisorys provided [ as possible ] by ATC. If you don't undestand that, don't get behind the controls of an airplane.

[@boneeatingsilicate580]

After PSA 182 you'd think San Diego control would've never let this happen again

[@daveg5520]

My friends, the lawyers were the only winners in this crash

[@geoffreylee5199]

The thousands Raygun fired to not pay reasonable salaries has made US airspace questionable. But his buddies got millions …