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DEN90FA042

1990-01-15 · ELKO, Nevada, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport EKO

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER IFR PROCEDURE BY THE CAPTAIN, AND INADEQUATE MONITORING OF THE APPROACH BY THE FIRST OFFICER, WHICH RESULTED IN A FAILURE TO MAINTAIN PROPER ALTITUDE DURING THE APPROACH. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE TERRAIN AND WEATHER CONDITIONS AT THE ACCIDENT SITE.

Factual narrative

DURING ARRIVAL, THE FLT CREW OF SKYWEST AIRLINES FLT 5855 REQUESTED A VOR/DME-B APCH TO THE ELKO ARPT, WHICH WAS APPROVED. AS THE APCH CONTINUED, THE FLT CREW RPRTD OVER THE BULLION VOR. APRX 30 SEC LATER, THE ACFT CRASHED. IMPACT OCCURRED AT THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN, ABOUT 100' BEFORE REACHING THE VOR STATION. ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 6460 FT; MIN PUBLISHED CROSSING ALT AT THE VOR WAS 7000 FT. THE ARPT WAS 4.1 MI FROM THE VOR AT AN ELEVATION OF 5135 FT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_DEN90FA042.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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