Date:	Thursday 12 April 1973
Time:	14:50
Type:	Lockheed P-3C Orion
Owner/operator:	United States Navy
Registration:	157332
MSN:	185-5547
Year of manufacture:	1970
Engine model:	Allison T56-A14
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 6
Other fatalities:	11
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	1 km S of Moffett Field NAS, CA (NUQ) -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Mountain View-Moffett Field, CA (NUQ/KNUQ)
Destination airport:	Mountain View-Moffett Field, CA (NUQ/KNUQ)

Narrative:
Lockheed P-3C 157332 departed Moffett Field for a training flight in the area. At the time of the accident, the crew had been flying approaches to touch-and-goes on runway 32L for about an hour and a half, circling in a left-hand pattern west of the air station. At the same time a Convair CV-990 operated by NASA (N711NA) was testing survey equipment over Monterey Bay. At 14:46 the CV-990 pilot contacted Moffett Field, stating that he was ten miles south of the air station and requesting a straight-in approach. They were then cleared for an approach to runway 32R and to contact the tower when he was seven miles out. Two minutes later the P-3C pilot reported that he was turning base with wheels down. At 14:49 the controller cleared the CV-990 to land at runway 32L.The pilot did not question the change of runways. The CV-990 descended above the P-3 on a converging path. The CV-990's nose gear collided with the tail and the upper fuselage of the Orion, which pitched up during the collision. Both aircraft lost control and crashed on the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, half a mile short of the runway.

P-3 Orion Aircraft Location Report (P-3 Orion Research Group - The Netherlands)
US Crashes 1950-2002 / Jan van Waarde
US Navy and US Marine Corps Aircraft Serial Numbers and Bureau Numbers--1911 to Present / Joe Baugher
VPNavy.org

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