SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834

Accident
Date	January 15, 1987
Summary	Mid-air collision caused by pilot error on the Mooney M20 aircraft and air traffic controller errors
Site	Kearns, Utah, U.S. 40°39′20″N 112°0′0″W / 40.65556°N 112.00000°W / 40.65556; -112.00000
Total fatalities	10
Total survivors	0
First aircraft
N163SW, the Skywest SA226TC Metro II involved in the accident, in June 1980
Type	Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II
Operator	SkyWest Airlines
ICAO flight No.	SKW834
Call sign	SKYWEST 834
Registration	N163SW[1]
Flight origin	Pocatello Regional Airport, Idaho
Destination	Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah
Occupants	8
Passengers	6
Crew	2
Fatalities	8
Survivors	0
Second aircraft
A Mooney M20C similar to accident aircraft
Type	Mooney M20
Operator	private
Registration	N6485U[2]
Flight origin	South Valley Regional Airport, West Jordan, Utah
Occupants	2
Passengers	0
Crew	2
Fatalities	2
Survivors	0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	0
Ground injuries	0

On Thursday, January 15, 1987, SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834, a Swearingen SA-226TC (METRO II), and a Mooney M20 were involved in a midair collision at 12:52 MST (UTC−7) near Kearns, Utah, a suburb southwest of Salt Lake City. All ten aboard the two aircraft were killed: two pilots and six passengers aboard the METRO II and two aboard the Mooney.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators primarily blamed the small plane pilots for wandering into restricted airspace, but a judge later assigned 51% responsibility to FAA air traffic controllers.

Collision

The SkyWest Airlines aircraft, which was 30 minutes late from Pocatello, Idaho, was on final approach to Runway 34 of Salt Lake City International Airport, piloted by Captain Michael Gambill and First Officer Walter Ray. The Mooney M20 took off from Salt Lake City Municipal Airport II (now South Valley Regional Airport) in West Jordan, piloted by flight instructor Paul Lietz and his student, Chester Baker, the plane's owner.^[3][6]

The air traffic controller watching the area failed to recognize the danger when the Mooney pilots wandered into restricted airspace. The controller did not notice the small plane on the radar and directed the SkyWest pilots to turn. Making that turn, the SkyWest plane collided with the Mooney.^[8] The collision was at an approximate altitude of 7,000 feet (2,100 m) above sea level, about a half-mile (800 m) above ground level.

Residents below the collision reported a "big boom," and then, "parts were flying everywhere".^[9] The main section of the SkyWest aircraft slid through a chain-link fence, stopping in the middle of a suburban street. Wreckage scattered over a one-mile-square area, with body parts hanging from trees. Authorities had to open a temporary morgue at a nearby church as they recovered the victims.^[10]

Investigation

The NTSB investigation ultimately blamed the Mooney M20 instructor pilot for straying into the Salt Lake City airport radar service area. The investigation also criticized the lack of a Mode-C transponder and the limitations of air traffic control collision protection.^[11][12]

In late 1990, U.S. district judge Thomas Greene ruled FAA air traffic controllers were 51% responsible for the crash and the Mooney pilots were 49% at fault.^[13]

See also

• Aeroméxico Flight 498 - another collision between a private aircraft and a commercial airliner
• Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182
• N600XL
• 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision - another collision involving an air controller

References