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DEN08CA023

2007-11-02 · Boulder, Colorado, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N4635F has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (XAG P100 PRO), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's misjudgment of altitude. Contributing factors in this accident were the pilot's intentional low airspeed, his failure to execute a go-around, and the soft terrain.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, he was returning to 1V5 after releasing some skydivers. He was following a training airplane in the traffic pattern and was gaining on it, so he decided to extend his downwind leg. On final approach to runway 08, his airplane was still gaining on the other airplane. The pilot reduced power and raised the nose to reduce airspeed to 85 mph. The airplane was "low and slow" as he passed over a lake, so he added power but not soon enough. The airplane touched down on the sandy shore of the lake short of the runway. The nose gear was torn off and the airplane nosed over. Both wings and wing struts were bent, the aft portion of the fuselage was buckled, and the vertical stabilizer were crushed. The pilot was returning to the airport after releasing some skydivers. He was following a training airplane in the traffic pattern and was gaining on it, so he decided to extend his downwind leg. On final approach to runway 08, his airplane was still gaining on the other airplane. The pilot reduced power and raised the nose to reduce airspeed to 85 mph. The airplane was "low and slow" as he passed over a lake, so he added power but not soon enough. The airplane touched down on the sandy shore of the lake short of the runway. The nose gear was torn off and the airplane nosed over. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2007_DEN08CA023.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers