- Date
- May 29, 1987, 19:58 local (May 30, 1987, 00:58 UTC)
- Place
- Chicago, IL
- Injuries
- 83 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N224AAMcdonnell Douglas DC-9-82
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 13667
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
American flt 637 was on departure from Chicago-o'hare intl arpt (ord), climbing thru 7300' MSL, when it passed American flt 393 with aprx 500' vertical sepn & 1/4 mi horizontal sepn. This occurred after an air traffic assistant, who was working the clnc delivery psn at ord, had issued the same transponder code to flt 637 & united flt 441. Subsequently, a trainee controller (ctlr), who was working at the west departure radar control position, mistook flt 441'S target as that of flt 637 & issued climb instructions to flt 637. The instructor did not recognize the error in time to correct the ctlr's action.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N224AA
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-82
- Category
- Airplane
- Engine
- P&W JT8D, 20,850 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- American Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 39
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,000 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
Other investigations on N224AA · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.