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DEN85FTI04

1985-06-22 · LAUREL, Montana, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 6S8

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

DRG A TEST FLT, THE PLT MADE A FAST TAXI RUN, THEN TOOK OFF ON RWY 21. AFTER TAKEOFF, HE MADE A GRADUAL CLIMB & SHALLOW LEFT TURNS TO A DOWNWIND, CIRCLED THE ARPT & REENTERED A DOWNWIND FOR RWY 21. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE PLT MADE A POWER REDUCTION & BEGAN A SHALLOW BASE TURN. THE LEFT WING THEN DROPPED & THE ACFT ENTERED A SPIN. AFTER SPINNING ABOUT 2/3 OF A TURN, THE ACFT IMPACTED THE GROUND IN A STEEP DSCNT. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FND. THE PLT HAD LOGGED NO FLT TIME FOR KR-2 ACFT; HOWEVER, HE HAD PREVIOUSLY FLOWN N8483Y ON 1/26/84. ON THAT FLT, HE HAD A PROBLEM WITH BEING UNFAMILIAR WITH THE SENSITIVITY OF THE FLT CONTROLS & DECIDED TO ABORT. DURING THE LANDING (ON 1/26/84), THE LANDING GEAR & PROP WERE DAMAGED. TOXICOLOGY TESTS SHOWED THAT THE PLT HAD A BLOOD/ALCOHOL LEVEL OF 47 MG% (0.047%), BUT NO ALCOHOL WAS FND IN HIS URINE. THE AMOUNT OF BLOOD/ALCOHOL DUE TO PUTREFACTION WAS NOT VERIFIED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_DEN85FTI04.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.