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DEN92FA078

1992-07-31 · RUIDOSO, New Mexico, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SRR

N337LS has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE GV-SP (G550), built 2007), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT EXPERIENCING SPATIAL DISORIENTATION AND THE RESULTANT EXCESSIVE DESCENT RATE. FACTORS WERE: THE DARK NIGHT CONDITIONS.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS CLEARED BY ARTCC FOR A VISUAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 24. HE ADVISED UNICOM HE WAS TOO HIGH AND WOULD CIRCLE TO LAND. AN AIRPORT ATTENDANT SAW THE AIRPLANE'S LANDING LIGHTS AND WATCHED IT BEGIN A LEFT TURN WHEN IT WAS OVER AND HALFWAY DOWN THE RUNWAY. THE DESCENT RATE INCREASED TO A 'HARD DIVE ABOUT 35 TO 45 DEGREES' BEFORE DISAPPEARING INTO A RAVINE ONE MILE SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT. VISUAL CONDITIONS PREVAILED BUT IT WAS A DARK NIGHT WITH NO MOON. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_DEN92FA078.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (spatial disorientation). All research papers