HOUSTON — The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on a plane collision that caused Hobby Airport to shut down for about three hours last month.
One private plane was landing and another was taking off around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 when they hit each other where the runways intersect. Airport operations immediately came to a halt and resumed around 7 p.m. that night.
No injuries were reported but both private planes were damaged. According to the NTSB report, there were three people on one plane and four on the other. One plane sustained minor damage while the other was damaged substantially.
Editor's note: The videos in this story are from previous reports.
Where were the planes going?
According to the report, a Raytheon Hawker 850XP was heading from Houston to Waukesha, Wisconsin.
The Hawker hit a Textron Aviation (Cessna) Citation Mustang that was landing after a flight from Atlanta.
Where did they crash?
The Hawker was taking off on runway 22 when it hit the Cessna that was landing on runway 13R.
The left wing of the Hawker hit the vertical stabilizer of the Cessna.
How did it happen?
The runways intersect at Hobby Airport and the NTSB report said the flight controller told the crew of the Hawker to line up and wait before actually taking off.
In a post-accident interview, the pilot of the Hawker said they thought they had been cleared to take off.
Communication review
The NTSB reviewed the communications between the planes and the controller. It revealed that the crew of the Hawker asked for clearance to taxi for departure at about 3:14 p.m.
About a minute later, the crew of the Cessna told the controller that they were about nine miles out and the controller gave them permission to land.
At about 3:17 p.m., the Cessna crew reported that they were about four miles away from landing.
At about 3:19 p.m., the controller noticed that the Hawker was moving and directed them to stop. According to the NTSB report, the crew of the Hawker didn't respond to two alerts to stop and hold their position. The flight crew said they didn't see the Cessna until about 1 second before impact.
The collision happened at 3:20 p.m.
The Hawker took flight after the collision but told the controller that they needed to return to the airport. At 3:21 p.m., the plane landed back at Hobby.