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DEN90LA024

1989-11-22 · DOVE CREEK, Colorado, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 8V6

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER FLARE BY THE STUDENT PILOT, HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN RUNWAY ALIGNMENT, AND A DELAY BY THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI) IN INITIATING REMEDIAL ACTION, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF AIRSPEED AND A STALL/MUSH AFTER THE AIRCRAFT DRIFTED OVER A CULTIVATED FIELD BESIDE THE RUNWAY. RELATED FACTORS WERE: THE CROSSWIND AND SOFT TERRAIN.

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT PILOT WAS MAKING A LANDING ON A 4000 X 25 FOOT DIRT RUNWAY WITH A RIGHT, QUARTERING HEADWIND. AFTER THE STUDENT FLARED, THE AIRPLANE FLOATED ABOUT 10 FEET ABOVE THE SURFACE, THEN DRIFTED TO THE LEFT UNTIL IT WAS OVER A CULTIVATED FIELD BESIDE THE RUNWAY. THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT (CFI) TOOK CONTROL OF THE PLANE AND ADDED POWER TO GO AROUND; HOWEVER, POWER DID NOT RESPOND IMMEDIATELY. THE AIRPLANE THEN STALLED, LANDED HARD IN THE CULTIVATED FIELD, AND NOSED OVER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_DEN90LA024.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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