- Date
- August 9, 1987, 15:15 local (19:15 UTC)
- Place
- New York, NY
- Injuries
- 528 uninjured
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N93109Boeing 747N558PEBoeing 727
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 30534
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
Acft with similar call signs (twa flts 843H & 834; Boeing 747 & Boeing 727) apchd jfk intl arpt for ldg. Flt 843H was 22MIN late & flt 834 was 12 min early, causing same arr time. NY TRACON vctrd flt 834 bhnd flt 843H. While ctlg the acft, jfk final ctlr, inadvertently transposed flt numbers & gave a vctr for flt '834H' (intended for flt 843H) to turn final for a VOR rwy 13L apch. Flt 843H didn't readily detect the error & contd its last assigned hdg of 300 deg. Abt 72 sec ltr, flt 843H queried the ctlr, but by that time, the ctlr noted his error & gave flt 843H a turn to reverse drctn. How-ever, flt 843H had entered laguardia airspace & converged on another acft (pan am flt 537), both at 3000'. Flt 537 was being vectored for an ILS rwy 4 apch to laguardia on another freq. Noting the acft were converging, the ctlrs told each respective flt to climb (while they atmtd to resolve the prblm). Flt 537 came out of clds; the crew saw the otr acft, took evasive actn & passed with abt 600' sepn. The jfk ctlr had 20/80 vision, but wasn't wearing glasses as required.
Aircraft · 2
- Registration
- N93109
- Reported as
- Boeing 747
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 19675
- Engine
- P&W JT9D, 45,800 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Trans World Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- MXP · Milan,Italy, OF
- Destination
- JFK · New York, NY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LGA · Laguardia, runway 13L, 10,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
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.
- Registration
- N558PE
- Reported as
- Boeing 727
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20840
- Engine
- P&W JT8D, 14,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Pan American
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- BOS · Boston, MA
- Destination
- LGA · New York, NY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LGA · Laguardia, runway 4, 7,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot, aircraft N93109
- Age
- 57
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 25,000 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 8 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot, aircraft N558PE
- Age
- 50
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 17,500 total · 11,000 in this make and model · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
Other investigations on N93109 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.