Skip to content

DEN89LA128

1989-05-29 · RANGELY, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 4V0

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE PILOT. THE HIGH WIND, GUSTS, THE PILOT'S LACK OF RECENT EXPERIENCE, AND HIS LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THE AIRCRAFT'S NEW HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS WERE CONSIDERED TO BE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.

Factual narrative

THE PLT RPRTD HE WAS MAKING A LEFT TURN ONTO RWY 24, WHEN THE STRONG/GUSTY WIND PUSHED THE ACFT TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE RWY. AS THE RIGHT (DOWNWIND) WHEEL DROPPED OFF THE PAVEMENT, THE LEFT WING LIFTED, THEN THE PROP & RIGHT WING TIP CONTACTED THE GROUND & THE ACFT WENT OVER TO AN INVERTED POSITION. THE PLT ESTD THE WIND WAS FROM 220 DEG AT 30 KTS. THIS WAS HIS 1ST FLT AFTER A WING LIFT MODIFICATION (TO EXTEND THE WING TIPS) HAD BEEN INSTALLED. HE STATED THE ACFT HAD BEEN IN THE SHOP FOR ABOUT 90 DAYS & HE HAD LOST 'THE EDGE' FROM LACK OF (RECENT) FLT TIME. ALSO, HE SAID HE WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ACFT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN89LA128.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.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers