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DEN89LA150

1989-07-01 · TELLURIDE, Colorado, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport TEX

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR WIND CONDITIONS BY THE PILOT AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN RUNWAY ALIGNMENT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE WIND CONDITIONS, HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE, AND TREES.

Factual narrative

THE PLT RPRTD THAT AS HE WAS LANDING, THE AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERED A STRONG GUST OF WIND WHICH BLEW IT TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RWY. DENSITY ALTITUDE AT THE ARPT WAS 11,600 FT. THE PLT ATTEMPTED A GO-AROUND, BUT WAS UNABLE TO GET THE ACFT TO CLEAR OVER TREES. THE ACFT THEN CRASHED TO THE GROUND & CAME TO REST INVERTED WITH ITS TAIL & LEFT WING TORN OFF. THE FIXED BASE OPERATOR AT THE ARPT ESTIMATED THE WIND WAS FROM 240 DEG AT 7 KTS. THE ARPT DIRECTORY RECOMMENDED THAT LANDINGS BE MADE ON RWY 9 & TAKEOFFS BE MADE ON RWY 27 FOR NOISE ABATEMENT REASONS. LOCAL PILOTS RPRTD THAT SUDDEN STRONG GUSTS ARE OFTEN ENCOUNTERED DRG LANDINGS AT THIS ARPT. A PLT, WHO LANDED JUST AFTER THE ACDNT, ALSO ENCOUNTERED UNFAVORABLE WIND NEAR THE APCH END OF RWY 9. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN89LA150.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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