Boeing 737-3S3 N313AW

Summary

On 19 April 1997 at about 01:24 local time, a Boeing 737-3S3 registered N313AW, operated by America West Airlines, was involved in an accident near Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. 125 people were on board and one was seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 April 1997 at 01:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Mc Carran International (LAS)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing 737-3S3

Registration

N313AW

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

America West Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Ana → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX97FA164

1 person was seriously injured.

inadequate service provided by the TRACON controller, by issuing a radar vector to the Boeing 737 flight, which resulted in inadequate separation from a Beech 99 that the controller had just terminated from radar service; and failure of the controller to provide adequate traffic/safety advisories to the Boeing 737 crew. Additional causes were the delayed initiation of a TCAS evasive maneuver by the first officer (copilot) of the Boeing 737, and failure of the Boeing 737 Captain to adequately supervise the response of the first officer to the TCAS resolution advisory. Inadequate visual lookout by the Beech 99 pilot was a related factor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

Beech 99 (B99) departed on VFR flight (flt) & began climb to 10,500', heading 175 deg. At boundary of class B airspace, ATC controller (TRACON) terminated radar service as B99 was at 7,000'; 40 sec later, pilots (plts) of Boeing 737 (B737) contacted TRACON, on Cresso 3 Arrival (STAR), & were cleared to descend to 10,000' on converging vector of 020 deg; 50 sec later, TRACON advised B737 of traffic (B99), 3 mi ahead, opposite direction & 1,700' lower. TRACON did not mention traffic was climbing, nor issue safety alert; 18 sec later, TRACON told B737 plts they could 'climb as you wish.' 1st officer (FO, plt flying TCAS equipped B737) responded to a resolution advisory by using autopilot & neglected to press 'level change,' which delayed avoidance maneuver. B737 plts saw B99 at close range; FO maneuvered abruptly to avert collision. B737 flight attendant was injured during maneuver. B99 plt saw B737 behind window post, too late for evasive action. Aircraft passed with estimated 200' vertical & no lateral separation (sepn). TCAS event analysis concluded that if B737 pilots had responded to TCAS advisories, within system design parameters, there would have been 700' vertical sepn without abrupt maneuvering. STAR was in heavily traveled area, often used by plts of small VFR aircraft.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.