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DEN89IA067

1989-01-22 · SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SLC

N712PC has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (ROBINSON HELICOPTER R44 II, built 2004), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S ATTEMPT TO ALIGN THE AIRPLANE WITH THE RUNWAY AT AN ALTITUDE INSUFFICIENT FOR SAFE MANEUVERING, RESULTING IN THE NO. 1 ENGINE STRIKING THE RUNWAY. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS INCLUDE OBSCURED VISIBILITY DUE TO FOG, THE CAPTAIN'S LOSS OF DEPTH PERCEPTION, AND PILOT FATIGUE DUE TO DISRUPTED CIRCADIAN RHYTHM.

Factual narrative

PLT WAS EXECUTING CATEGORY I ILS APCH TO RWY 34L AFTER FLYING FROM HON TO SLC. PLT SAID HE 'CAME OFF GAUGES' AT 300 FT AGL EXPECTING TO SEE RWY BUT DIDN'T. AT 200 FT AGL, HE SAW RWY 150 FT TO LEFT BUT LOST ALL DEPTH PERCEPTION. PLT CONSIDERED EXECUTING MISSED APCH BUT FELT HE COULD ALIGN ACFT WITH RWY WITH ALT REMAINING. WHILE MANEUVERING, NO. 1 ENG STRUCK RWY, LEAVING 50-60 FT LONG, 1-INCH DEEP GOUGE. IN PREVIOUS 30 HR PERIOD, PLT HAD BEEN ON DUTY 18 HRS, 30 MIN, AND HAD FLOWN 13 HRS, 25 MIN. HE HAD BEEN OFF DUTY 11 HRS, 24 MIN, BUT HAD SLEPT ONLY 1 HR. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN89IA067.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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