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DEN91FA127

1991-09-11 · RUIDOSO, New Mexico, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SRR

N4VH has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 421C, built 1977), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

LOSS OF CONTROL IN FLIGHT AFTER TO THE CABIN DOOR OPENED INADVERTENTLY DURING TAKEOFF RUN.

Factual narrative

WHILE DEPARTING ON A CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED TO HAVE AN ABNORMALLY LONG TAKEOFF ROLL AND TO ROTATE ABRUPTLY TO A HIGHER THAN NORMAL NOSE ATTITUDE. INITIAL CLIMB WAS FOLLOWED BY SETTLING WITH A HIGH NOSE ATTITUDE AND THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED APPROXIMATELY ONE MILE BEYOND THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE MAIN CABIN DOOR WAS FOUND IN THE UNLOCKED POSITION AND THE LOWER HALF WAS FOUND NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE WRECKAGE PATH WITH IMPACT DAMAGE. THE TOP HALF WAS FOUND FURTHER DOWN THE WRECKAGE PATH AND HAD SUSTAINED FIRE DAMAGE. THE AEROSTAR HAS AN OBSERVED DRAG AND PITCH PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION IF THE CABIN DOOR OPENS DURING TAKEOFF RUN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_DEN91FA127.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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