NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DEN90LA078
Registry · N2KD
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA T210J
Year of manufacture
1969 · 21 years old at event
Engine
CONT MOTOR GTSIO-520-C (340 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19690501
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A18E36
Registrant of record
ELLIOTT FRANK F
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S LOSS OF DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING AN ABORTED TAKEOFF.
Factual narrative
THE PILOT TAXIED FOR TAKEOFF AND ATTEMPTED TO ROTATE AT 70 KNOTS. HE SAID FULL AFT PRESSURE ON THE YOKE WOULD NOT CAUSE THE PLANE TO LIFT OFF. HE ATTEMPTED TO ABORT AFTER THE PLANE REACHED 90 KNOTS, BUT LOST CONTROL. THE PLANE DEPARTED THE RUNWAY TO THE RIGHT AND STRUCK A CULVERT IN A DITCH. THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED, AND THE PLANE NOSED DOWN. THE FIREWALL, GEAR, PROPELLER AND PART OF THE FUSELAGE WERE BENT. THE PILOT SAID THIS WAS THE FIRST FLIGHT FOLLOWING REPAIRS PERFORMED ON THE AUTOPILOT. THE PILOT SAID HE ALWAYS ROLLED THE ELEVATOR TRIM WHEEL A HALF- TURN FORWARD FOR TAKEOFF, SINCE HE ALWAYS LEFT THE TRIM FULLAFT AT LANDING. HE DID NOT NOTE THE INDICATOR POSITION, SINCE THE INDICATOR WAS BROKEN PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. A POSTACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED THAT THE MECHANIC REPAIRED THE INDICATOR AND SET TRIM TO NEUTRAL IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE MAINTENANCE. NO FAULT WAS FOUND WITH THE TRIM OR AUTOPILOT SYSTEM. A CESSNA ENG. ESTIMATED THE REPORTED TRIM SETTING WOULD REQUIRE CONSIDERABLE STRENGHT TO OVERCOME FOR TAKEOFF. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_DEN90LA078.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (maintenance, autopilot). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2026 · Journal article (IJAAA)
From Reactive to Predictive: A hybrid Trust-Mediated Adoption Framework for Data-Driven Maintenance in Distributed-Authority Aviation Environments
Modern aviation maintenance operates within increasingly data-intensive technological environments, yet the operational integration of predictive maintenance into routine decision-making remains incon…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
ROSflight 2.0: Lean ROS 2-Based Autopilot for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
ROSflight is a lean, open-source autopilot ecosystem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Designed by researchers for researchers, it is built to lower the barrier to entry to UAV research and acceler…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
ROSplane 2.0: A Fixed-Wing Autopilot for Research
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research requires the integration of cutting-edge technology into existing autopilot frameworks.
- Semantic Scholar 2025 · Article (Applied Sciences)
Decision-Making Framework for Aviation Safety in Predictive Maintenance Strategies
The implementation of predictive maintenance (PM) in aviation presents unique challenges due to strict safety requirements, complex operational environments, and regulatory constraints.
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Testing of Advanced Capabilities to Enable In-time Safety Management and Assurance for Future Flight Operations
In order to refine an initial Concept of Operations, explore Concepts of Use, and expose/validate requirements for future In-Time Aviation Safety Management Systems (IASMS), testing architectures were…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
A Data-Driven Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft Based on Model Predictive Control
Autopilots for fixed-wing aircraft are typically designed based on linearized aerodynamic models consisting of stability and control derivatives obtained from wind-tunnel testing.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗