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DEN88FA090

1988-04-03 · COLORADO SPRING, Colorado, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport COS

N5WW has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (PIPER PA-30, built 1965), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

AFTER TAKEOFF THE ACFT FAILED TO CLIMB SUFFICIENTLY TO CLEAR A UTILITY POLE ONE-HALF MILE OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH THE POLE AND CRASHED IN A RESIDENTIAL STREET. THE PLT AND THREE PAX WERE FATALLY INJURED AND THE ACFT WAS CONSUMED BY FIRE. AVAILABLE INFORMATION INDICATES THAT POWER REQUIRED WAS GREATER THAN POWER AVAILABLE FOR TAKEOFF AT NEAR MAX GROSS WT FROM THE HIGH ALTITUDE, HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE ARPT, AND THE PLT WAS INEXPERIENCED IN HIGH ALTITUDE ARPT OPERATIONS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_DEN88FA090.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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