DEN89LA111
1989-04-19 · KALISPELL, Montana, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport FCA
Current FAA registration · N5414C
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 170A
- Year of manufacture
- 1950 · 39 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR C145 SERIES (145 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19550805
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A6DE8A
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE DURING THE LANDING FLARE AND ROLLOUT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S LACK OF PROFICIENCY WITH ONLY 4 HOURS OF FLIGHT TIME IN THE PRECEDING 90 DAY PERIOD.
Factual narrative
THE PLT STATED, 'DURING THE LANDING PHASE THE AIRPLANE STARTED TO ACT LIKE IT WAS IN TURBULENCE. ON CONTACT WITH THE GROUND, I COULDN'T KEEP IT GOING STRAIGHT...'. THE AIRPLANE GROUND LOOPED AND NOSED OVER. POST CRASH EXAMINATION OF THE BRAKES AND RELATED SYSTEM REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION. THE WIND AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WAS LIGHT AND VARIABLE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_DEN89LA111.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.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). All research papers
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER) Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).