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DEN92FA040

1992-03-05 · NEW CASTLE, Colorado, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport RIL

N303CA has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BEECH C90A, built 1986), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

AN INADVERTENT STALL DURING AN INSTRUMENT APPROACH WITH THE AUTOPILOT ENGAGED. A FACTOR WAS: THE PILOT'S PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT FROM A PRESCRIPTION DRUG.

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN APPROXIMATELY 10.5 DME FROM THE AIRPORT WHILE EXECUTING A LOC-DME INSTRUMENT APPROACH. THE AIRPLANE WAS CONFIGURED FOR LANDING. THE ELEVATOR TRIM JACKSCREW WAS APPROXIMATELY 18 DEGREES NOSE UP. THE ALTITUDE PRESELECT, COUPLED TO THE SPERRY AUTOPILOT SYSTEM, WAS SET AT 9,500 FEET. MINIMUM DESCENT ALTITUDE UNTIL REACHING THE FINAL APPROACH FIX IS 9,500 FEET. FINAL APPROACH FIX IS LOCATED AT 9.3 DME. TWENTY FOUR PRESCRIPTION AND NONPRESCRIPTION DRUGS WERE FOUND ABOARD THE AIRPLANE. THE PILOT'S TOXICOLOGY REPORT DISCLOSED 0.206 (UG/ML, UG/G) CHLORPHENIRAMINE, AN ANTIHISTAMINE, IN HIS LIVER FLUID. ACCORDING TO AN FAA FLIGHT SURGEON, THIS WOULD EQUATE TO APPROXIMATELY .034 UG/ML IN BLOOD. THERAPEUTIC DOSAGE IS .01 TO .04 UG/ML. THE DRUG IS CONTRAINDICATED FOR FLYING DUE TO ITS CAPABILITY OF PRODUCING DROWSINESS. CHLORPHENIRAMINE IS AN INGREDIENT FOUND IN COMTREX, ONE OF THE DRUGS FOUND ABOARD THE AIRPLANE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_DEN92FA040.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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