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DCA97MA009

1996-11-19 · QUINCY, Illinois, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport UIN

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

the failure of the pilots in the King Air A90 to effectively monitor the common traffic advisory frequency or to properly scan for traffic, resulting in their commencing a takeoff roll when the Beech 1900C (United Express flight 5925) was landing on an intersecting runway. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the Cherokee pilot's interrupted radio transmission, which led to the Beech 1900C pilot's misunderstanding of the transmission as an indication from the King Air that it would not take off until after flight 5925 had cleared the runway. Contributing to the severity of the accident and the loss of life were the lack of adequate aircraft rescue and firefighting services and the failure of the air stair door on the Beech 1900C to be opened. (NTSB Report AAR-97/04)

Factual narrative

On November 19, 1996, at 1703 CST, a United Express Beechcraft 1900c, Flight 5925 collided with a Beechcraft King Air A90, N1127D, at Quincy Municipal Airport, near Quincy, Illinois. The United Express flight was completing its landing roll on runway 13 and the King Air was departing on runway 4. Both pilots and 10 passengers on the 1900C and both pilots on the A90D were killed. Both aircraft were destroyed. The 1900C was on an IFR flight plan and operating under FAR part 135. The A90 had not filed a flight plan and was operating under FAR part 91. The complete narrative for this investigation is contained in PB97-910404, NTSB/AAR-97/04. The Beech 1900C, N87GL, was in its landing roll on runway 13, and the Beech A90, N1127D, was in its takeoff roll on runway 4. The collision occurred at the intersection of the two runways. The flight crew of the Beech 1900C had made appropriate efforts to coordinate the approach & landing through radio communications & visual monitoring; however they mistook a Cherokee pilot's transmission (that he was holding for departure on runway 4) as a response from the Beech A90 to their request for the Beech A90's intentions, and therefore mistakenly believed that the Beech A90 was not planning to take off until after the Beech 1900C had cleared the runway. The failure of the Beech A90 pilot to announce over the common traffic advisory frequency his intention to take off created a potential for collision between the two airplanes. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1996_DCA97MA009.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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