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DEN88FA033

1987-12-05 · SAN JOSE, California, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RHV

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

SEVERAL MIN AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PLT NOTED A LOSS OF OIL PRESSURE & ELECTED TO RETURN TO THE ARPT. AS HE WAS RETURNING, THE ENG BEGAN TO OVERSPEED, BUT HE CONTROLLED THE RPM BY RETARDING THE THROTTLE. THE WIND WAS FROM 150 DEG AT 10 KTS. THE PLT WAS CLRD TO ENTER TRAFFIC FOR RWY 13L, BUT HE ELECTED TO LAND IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION WITH A TAIL WIND. WHILE ON A SHORT FINAL APCH TO LAND ON RWY 31R, THE ACFT BALLOONED & THE PLT DECIDED TO GO AROUND. DRG THE GO-AROUND, THE ENG LOST POWER. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A UTILITY POLE, THEN CRASHED INTO A MULTI-FAMILY DWELLING & BURNED. OIL RESIDUE WAS FND ON THE LEFT SIDE & BOTTOM OF THE FUSELAGE. A TEARDOWN OF THE ENG REVEALED THE #4 CONNECTING ROD HAD FAILED. ONLY ABOUT 1/2 PINT OF OIL WAS FND IN THE ENG. DUE TO IMPACT & FIRE DAMAGE, THE REASON FOR THE LOSS OF OIL WAS NOT DETERMINED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_DEN88FA033.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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