" Later, the first officer is heard asking, "Are we clear of that Cessna?" The flight engineer responds with, "Supposed to be"; and the captain says, "I guess." ("CVR Transcript..." n.d.). The Accident

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation report, referring to eyewitness accounts records that both aircrafts were proceeding in an easterly direction before the collision. The Boeing was descending and overtaking the Cessna, which was climbing. Just before impact, the Boeing banked to the right slightly, and the Cessna pitched nose-up, colliding with the right wing of Flight 182. ("Aircraft Accident Report," 1979, p.4) Also, just before the impact, the captain, probably anticipating the collision exclaimed "Whoop!" And the first officer moaned "Aghhh!" The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) recorded the sound of impact at 0901:47 ("CVR Transcript..." n.d.). The Cessna broke up immediately on impact and exploded. Parts of the Boeing's right wing also fell out. Following the impact, Flight 182 began a shallow right descending turn leaving a trail of vapor-like substance from the right wing. A bright orange fire also erupted in the vicinity of the right wing and increased in intensity as the aircraft descended. The aircraft remained in a right...

("Aircraft Accident Report," 1979, p.36) the NTSB report also cited the air traffic control procedure as a contributory cause to the accident, specifically, the procedure that authorized the controllers to use visual separation procedures to separate two aircraft on potentially conflicting tracks when radar separation capability was available. Additionally, the Cessna pilots, for unknown reasons, did not maintain their assigned heading after completing a practice instrument approach (Ibid.)