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DEN91FA048

1991-03-01 · TAOS, New Mexico, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SKX

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S DECISION TO INITIATE FLIGHT INTO FREEZING RAIN WHICH RESULTED IN STRUCTURAL ICING THAT EXCEEDED THE ABILITY OF THE AIRCRAFT TO MAINTAIN FLIGHT. A FACTOR WAS: IMPROPER DEICING.

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS DEICED WITH PURE ETHYLENE GLYCOL AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND THEN DEPARTED ON AN IFR FLIGHT IN FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW WITH A TEMPERATURE/DEW POINT OF 33/31. DEPARTURE INSTRUCTIONS WERE FOR A RIGHT TURN TO THE NORTH FOLLOWING TAKEOFF AND DIRECT TO THE VOR. THE AIRCRAFT WAS FOUND NINE HOURS AFTER DEPARTING, SCATTERED IN A FIELD, 1.5 MILES NORTH OF THE AIRPORT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_DEN91FA048.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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