DEN84FA115

1984-03-24 · GREELEY, Colorado, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GXY

Aircraft involved

N6521R Cessna 172RG Serious

Factual narrative

THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES AND THE GROUND DURING A NIGHT FORCED LANDING. THE ACFT HAD MADE SOME STRANGE SOUNDS AND STARTED VIBRATING AFTER TAKEOFF. A GLIDE WAS SET UP FOR A FORCED LANDING. SINCE THE ARPT COULD NOT BE REACHED A LANDING WAS MADE ON A DRY RIVER BED. EXAM OF THE PROP SHOWED 6 3/4 INCHES OF ONE BLADE WERE MISSING AND COULD NOT BE LOCATED. FAILURE OF THE BLADE WAS DETERMINED TO BE FROM A PRE-EXISTING FATIGUE CRACK. THE PLT SAID THE ACFT IS OPERATED OFF OF A GRAVEL STRIP IN NEW MEXICO. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_DEN84FA115.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.