NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DEN04CA068
Registry · N94405
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 206H
Year of manufacture
2012
Engine
LYCOMING IO-540-AC1A5 (300 hp)
Seats / Engines
6 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20120919
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD1E7A
Registrant of record
TVPX AIRCRAFT SOLUTIONS INC TRUSTEE
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. A contributing factor was the clear air turbulence encounter.
Factual narrative
On May 5, 2004, approximately 1105 mountain daylight time, an Engineering and Research (Ercoupe) 415G, N94405, owned and operated by the pilot, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near Falcon, Colorado. The private pilot and his passenger received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the personal flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated approximately 1055. According to the pilot, he and his wife departed Meadow Lake Airport for a local flight. The airplane was at maximum gross weight. They encountered clear air turbulence. At full power of 2,250 rpm and an indicated airspeed of 75 mph, the airplane would not climb. He decided to turn around and return to the airport. After turning onto the downwind leg, the airplane encountered a "rotor wave" and the left wing dropped. The pilot applied full right aileron input with no effect. The airplane entered a spiral and impacted terrain. The left wing tip scraped the ground, spinning the airplane around. It became airborne again, then the right main landing gear struck a ditch. This collapsed the nose and right main landing gears. In addition, the right wing was sheared and the empennage was buckled. The pilot said the airplane was at maximum gross weight. Shortly after departure, he encountered clear air turbulence. At full power of 2,250 rpm and an indicated airspeed of 75 mph, the airplane would not climb. He decided to turn around and return to the airport. After turning onto the downwind leg, the airplane encountered a "rotor wave" and the left wing dropped. The pilot applied full right aileron with no effect. The airplane entered a spiral and impacted terrain. The left wing tip scraped the ground, spinning the airplane around. It became airborne again, then the right main landing gear struck a ditch. This collapsed the nose and right main landing gears. In addition, the right wing was sheared and the empennage was buckled. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2004_DEN04CA068.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗