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DEN90FA058

1990-02-20 · PUEBLO, Colorado, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PUB

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN A PROPER GLIDE PATH AND SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE TO CLEAR OBSTACLES.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT DIVERTED TO PUEBLO, CO AFTER EXPERIENCING A PROBLEM WITH THE LEFT ENGINE. HE WAS GIVEN VECTORS FOR THE ILS APPROACH TO RUNWAY 8L AND REPORTED THE RUNWAY INSIGHT NEAR THE OUTER MARKER. AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER IN THE TOWER CAB STATED HE SAW N1666H ON THE APPROACH AND AS THE AIRPLANE 'PASSED THROUGH A SCUD LAYER, IT APPEARED TO BE IN A STEEP DESCENT.' THE CAPTAIN OF A MESA AIRLINES FLIGHT EXCUTING THE APPROACH BEHIND N1666H STATED HE FLEW THROUGH A LAYER OF FOG IN THE VICINITY OF THE ACCIDENT SITE AND HIS VIEW OF THE RUNWAY WAS OBSCURED. THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE MARKED STATIC WIRE A TOP A 75 FT. POLE, APPROXIMATELY 7,000 FT. FROM THE APPROACH END OF RUNWAY 8L. POSTACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF A PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OF THE AIRFRAME STRUCTURE, FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS, ENGINES OR PROPELLERS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_DEN90FA058.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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