NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ATL99FA078
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The CFI's failure to maintain visual lookout. A factor was his disregard for VFR Traffic pattern procedures.
Factual narrative
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On April 29, 1999, at 1755 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N739FX, and a Cessna 152, N48870, collided in flight while on approach to runway 29, at the Gilbert Airport, in Winter Haven, Florida. The 172, was operated by the Aero L'Aquilla Flight School, under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. The 152 was operated by the Britannia Flight Center, under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flights. The certified flight instructor (CFI) and passenger of the 172, sustained serious injuries, and the student pilot of the 152 sustained minor injuries. Both aircraft sustained substantial damage. According to witnesses, the 152 had been practicing full-stop landings and had remained in the pattern. The 172 had departed Kissimmee, Florida, at 1740 the same day for a touch and go landing at Gilbert Airport. The witnesses stated that they heard the pilot of the 152, over the Unicom frequency, announcing his left downwind, base and final approach positions. Witnesses said the 172 was observed making a right downwind approach and an abbreviated base to final to runway 29 above the 152. A witness who was in his aircraft at the hold short line, attempted to warn the 172 several times over the Unicom frequency of 122.7; however, there was no reply. The 172 impacted the top of the 152 about 30 feet above the ground, forcing the 152 into the ground. The 172 pitched up, rolled right and nosed into the ground, coming to rest on its back. The 152 landed hard on its main gear, and slid to a stop.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The pilot of N739FX, was a Certified Flight Instructor for single engine airplanes. He also was certificated as a commercial pilot with single engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument airplanes. The pilot's most recent first class medical was issued on October 15, 1997. The pilot's most recent flight review was when he took his CFI check ride in January 1999. The pilot of N48870, was a student pilot on his first solo flight. AIRCRAFT INFORMATION The Cessna 172N, N739FX, was a four (4) seat, single engine airplane, and was registered to Aero L'Aquilla, Inc. On April 23, 1999, the aircraft received a 100 hour inspection, and had flown 19.4, hours since that inspection. The Cessna 152, N48870, was a two (2) seat, single engine airplane, and was registered to Britannia Flight Center. On April 18, 1999, the aircraft received a 100 hour inspection, and had flown 42, hours since that inspection..
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 1745 surface observation at St. Petersburg, Florida reported clear skies, with 10 miles visibility, with temperature/dew point of 80 and 60 degrees respectively. The altimeter setting was 30.12 inches. The prevailing winds were 110 degrees at 10 knots.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
The initial in-flight collision occurred at about 30 feet above the ground and 316 feet short of the runway. The Cessna 172, was found inverted. The engine compartment and cowling remained attached to the firewall, but was forced aft during the impact. The nose gear was bent aft, and the left main gear was found separated. The propeller remained attached to the engine and both blades were found curled beginning mid-length outboard to the tips. The empennage was partially separated from the cabin area just aft of the rear seats. The flaps were found fully extended, and the cockpit instruments were partially destroyed. Cockpit flight controls were found with the mixture full forward, throttle full forward, carburetor heat on, and the master switch on. Power was applied to the digital communication one radio, which indicated a frequency setting of 122.7, or the local Unicom frequency. The Cessna 152, after the collision, landed in the grass 56 feet to the north side of runway 29. It continued to roll parallel to runway 29 and came to rest on runway 29, 432 feet from the start of runway 29 facing south. The flaps were found extended to 30 degrees. Damage was found on the windshield and the glare shield similar to that made by a propeller. Scratches, dents, and deformation was noted on the engine cowling, nose gear, leading edge of the right wing, left inboard flap, the right inboard aileron, the right inboard flap and the forward empennage. Power was added to the communication one radio, which indicated a frequency setting of 122.7.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Title 14 CFR Part 91.113(g)Landing, stated the following; "Aircraft, while on final approach to land or while landing, have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or operating on the surface, except that they shall not take advantage of this rule to force an aircraft off the runway surface which has already landed and is attempting to make way for an aircraft on final approach. When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land or to overtake that aircraft". The Cessna 172, N739FX, was released to the owner, Aero L'Aquila, Inc. 606 Dyer Blvd., Kissimmee, Florida, 34741. The Cessna 152, N48870, was released to the owner, Britannia Flight Center, Inc. 3000 21st NW, Winter Haven, Florida, 33881. The 152 had been practicing full-stop landings and had remained in the pattern. A 172 had departed Kissimmee, Florida, for a touch and go landing at Gilbert Airport. The witnesses stated that they heard the pilot of the 152, over the Unicom frequency, announcing his left downwind, base and final approach positions. Witnesses said the 172 was observed making a right downwind approach and an abbreviated base to final to runway 29 above the 152. A witness who was in his aircraft at the hold short line attempted to warn the 172 over the Unicom frequency of 122.7 several times; however, there was no reply. The 172 impacted the top of the 152 about 30 feet above the ground, forcing the 152 into the ground. The 172 pitched up, rolled right and nosed into the ground coming to rest on its back. The 152 landed hard on its main gear, and slid to a stop. Title 14 CFR Part 91.113(g)Landing, states in part; 'Aircraft, while on final approach to land or while landing, have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or operating on the surface'. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1999_ATL99FA078.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗