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Atlas / NTSB / DEN92IA007

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN92IA007

1991-10-30 COLORADO SPRING, Colorado, United States Airport · COS None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N1808U

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BOEING 737-8

Year of manufacture

2022

TCDS

A16WE · BOEING

Engine

CFM INTL LEAP-1B28 SER

Seats / Engines

175 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

20220914

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A1442F

Registrant of record

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE CAPTAIN'S INADEQUATE SUPERVISION AND THE COPILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. FACTORS WERE: THE CROSSWIND AND SNOW/ICE ON THE RUNWAY.

Factual narrative

AS THE AIRCRAFT APPROACHED 50 KIAS ON THE TAKEOFF ROLL, IT DRIFTED RIGHT. THE FIRST OFFICER, WHO WAS MAKING THE TAKEOFF, CORRECTED WITH LEFT RUDDER. RIGHT DRIFT BECAME MORE PRONOUNCED AND HARD LEFT RUDDER WAS USED. THE CAPTAIN TOOK OVER, RETARDED ALL THREE THROTTLES, THEN ATTEMPTED TO REGAIN CONTROL BY USING ASYMMETRICAL THRUST. WHEN THIS FAILED, THE THROTTLES WERE RETARDED AND REVERSE THRUST APPLIED. POST INCIDENT INSPECTION DISCLOSED NO APPARENT DAMAGE. THE NEXT MORNING, A DIFFERENT CREW REJECTED THE TAKEOFF WHEN THE NO. 3 ENGINE FAILED. POST INCIDENT DISASSEMBLY AND INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE DISCLOSED METAL IN THE TAILPIPE, SAND AND MUD IN THE COMPRESSOR SECTION, AND A 13TH STAGE AND TWO 14TH STAGE COMPRESSOR BLADES BROKEN OFF, CAUSING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO BOTH THE LOW AND HIGH PRESSURE TURBINES. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_DEN92IA007.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗