Accident Overview
On the day of the accident, a low-wing airplane with a commercial pilot and a private-rated copilot on board was completing an instrument-flight-rules flight and performing a visual approach to their home airport. A high-wing airplane with a flight instructor and a student pilot was conducting takeoffs and landings. The two airplanes collided about ¼ nautical mile from the approach end of the runway.
Flight Details
The low-wing airplane was instructed by the approach controller to cross the airport over midfield and enter the left downwind leg for runway 30L. The high-wing airplane was cleared for a short approach to runway 30R in right traffic. After contacting the tower, the low-wing crew was cleared to land on runway 30L, which they acknowledged correctly. However, ADS-B data showed that after crossing the runway, the low-wing airplane made a continuous descending turn that aligned it with the final approach path for runway 30R instead of 30L.
Visibility and Traffic Information
Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed, but a visibility study indicated difficulty for pilots to see each other due to airplane size and background complexity. The low-wing pilot would have needed to move his head to see the runway ends, looking away from the high-wing airplane, which was also obscured by aircraft structure. Sun glare was not a factor. The high-wing airplane lacked a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI); the low-wing airplane had one that may have generated an alert, but such alerts are expected in the pattern environment.
Medical and Performance Factors
The low-wing pilot had cardiovascular disease and hearing impairment, but the investigation determined it was unlikely that an incapacitating medical event occurred, as the aircraft was in controlled flight and the crew communicated correctly. The flight instructor had heart and kidney issues, and the student pilot had heart disease and dehydration, but these were deemed unlikely to have affected their ability to see and avoid. The low-wing airplane was flying 21–38 knots faster than its nominal approach speed of 85 knots, which may have contributed to the alignment with the wrong runway. The crew may have been unfamiliar with a relatively new pattern-entry procedure implemented on a test basis two months earlier.