No blame given in airport collision

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.

The National Transportation and Safety Board has issued its preliminary report about the Sept. 23 runway collision of two single-engine planes at North Las Vegas Airport, but it does not say who was to blame for the wreck.

The report said witnesses heard an explosion as the two craft skidded to a stop about 1 p.m. last Tuesday.

A Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow had been cleared to land on runway 12R. At the same time a Piper PA-46-350P Mirage was taxiing to runway 7.

Witnesses interviewed by the NTSB said that as the Arrow began to slow and entered the landing area, the planes collided at the runways' intersection, the report said.

A 150-foot skid mark ran straight from runway 7 to the intersection of the two runways, the report said.

The Arrow flipped over and its engine was damaged in the subsequent fire, the report said.

The Mirage's fuselage was punctured below the pilot's side window, leaving a hole about a foot wide, the report said.

Both pilots sustained moderate injuries; no one else was involved in the accident.

No other runway collisions have occurred at the North Las Vegas Airport in the past four years, despite hundreds of thousands of takeoffs and landings, according to the Clark County Aviation Department.

The airport is the second busiest in the state, with an average of 600 takeoffs and landings each day. This year, through the end of July, there have been 123,216 takeoffs and landings. Last year there were 218,296 total.

Over the last four years through Aug. 1, 34 near-collisions had occurred at North Las Vegas Airport, tying Los Angeles International Airport for the most in the country.

There have also been a number of airplane crashes near the North Las Vegas Airport in recent years, including eight in 2002, and one earlier this year in which a flight instructor and a student died.