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DEN90FA170

1990-08-17 · SANTA FE, New Mexico, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SAF

N21CS has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 310Q, built 1973), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL.

Factual narrative

WHILE MANEUVERING TO LAND, THE PILOT WAS TOLD TO GO AROUND. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A SPIN & CRASHED. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL PROBLEM WAS FOUND THAT WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN THE ACCIDENT. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EQUIPPED WITH STC NO:3A15, WHICH INVOLVED INSTALLATION OF DROOPED WING TIPS (DEMER SUPER TIPS) FOR IMPROVED CLIMB PERFORMANCE & CRUISE SPEED, AS WELL AS REDUCED STALL SPEED & TAKEOFF DISTANCE. THE PILOT'S BLOOD TESTED POSITIVE FOR ETHANOL (0.041%); HOWEVER, THE BLOOD SAMPLE WAS NOT CONSIDERED SUITABLE FOR ANALYSIS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_DEN90FA170.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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