DEN93FA017
1992-12-22 · GOLDEN, Colorado, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
N81TR has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (IRVING STEVEN IRBD-4), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT FLYING THE AIRCRAFT BEYOND THE DESIGN MANEUVERING SPEED AND EXCEEDING THE DESIGN STRESS LIMITS. A FACTOR WAS: CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE.
Factual narrative
WHILE IN A DESCENT FOR ARRIVAL AT THE DESTINATION AIRPORT, THE AIRCRAFT SUSTAINED STRUCTURAL FAILURE WITH THE RIGHT OUTER WING, HORIZONTAL STABILIZER, AND VERTICAL STABILIZER SEPARATING FROM THE AIRCRAFT. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED APPROXIMATELY 10 MILES FROM THE PLANNED DESTINATION. ACCORDING TO RADAR DATA AND OTHER RESEARCH, THE DESCENT WAS CONDUCTED AT VNE AND KNOWN SEVERE TURBULENCE WAS PRESENT IN THE AREA AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1992_DEN93FA017.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.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). All research papers
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER) Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).