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DEN90FA135

1990-06-15 · CHALLIS, Idaho, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport S81

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S ENTRY INTO AN EXCESSIVE MANEUVER AFTER TAKEOFF WITH INSUFFICIENT ALTITUDE AND AIRSPEED TO COMPLETE THE MANEUVER, WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL/MUSH INTO TREES. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE AND TREES.

Factual narrative

A WITNESS STATED THE ACFT ENTERED A STEEP CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF FROM A STRIP NEAR A RIVER IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. HE SAID THAT WHILE STILL CLIMBING, THE ACFT BEGAN A 180 DEG 'U-TURN' (WING-OVER) & HEADED FOR THE GROUND. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT HIT TREES, CRASHED ON UNEVEN TERRAIN & BURNED. IMPACT OCCURRED ON A HDG THAT WAS NRLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE RWY DRCTN. ELEV OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 4730 FT; THE ARPT ELEV WAS 4701 FT. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT WAS FOUND, THOUGH THE ELEVATOR TRIM CABLE WAS FOUND STRETCHED IN A NOSE-UP (TAB DOWN) DRCTN. THE COMPANY HAD SUSPENDED ONE OF THE PLTS FOR PERFORMING A SIMILAR MANEUVER ON 3/5/90, AFTER INADVERTENTLY ENTERING A BOX CANYON AT LOW ALTITUDE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_DEN90FA135.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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