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MKC89LA161

1989-07-18 · DES MOINES, Iowa, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DSM

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL AND RUNWAY ALIGNMENT DURING THE LANDING. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: ADVERSE WEATHER/RUNWAY/TERRAIN CONDITIONS, FAILURE OF THE LOCAL CONTROLLER TO WARN THE PILOT OF POSSIBLE HYDROPLANING CONDITIONS, THE PILOT'S DECISION NOT TO USE REVERSE THRUST, AND RUNWAY LIGHT ABUTMENTS.

Factual narrative

THE PIC RPRTD THAT DURING AN IFR ARRIVAL TO THE DES MOINES INTL ARPT, HE DETECTED WHAT SEEMED TO BE MICROBURSTS & ELECTED TO MAKE A MISSED APCH. DURING A 2ND APCH (ILS RWY 30R APCH), WX CONDITIONS WERE BETTER & TOWER PSNL RPRTD ONLY LIGHT RAIN & WINDS, SO HE CONTINUED FOR A LANDING. THE APCH & TOUCHDOWN WERE NORMAL & REVERSE THRUST WAS NOT USED. HOWEVER, THE PLT RPRTD THAT WHEN HE APPLIED BRAKES, HE REALIZED THE ACFT WAS HYROPLANING. SOON THEREAFTER, IT ANGLED OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE RWY, THOUGH IT WAS BEING STEERED TO THE LEFT. THE ACFT THEN ENCTRD SOFT MUD, HIT 2 LANDING LIGHT ABUTMENTS & WAS DAMAGED. THE RWY WAS RPRTD TO SLOPE DOWNWARD TOWARD THE MIDPOINT. THE PLT STATED THAT A FEW HRS LATER, WATER WAS STILL STANDING IN LOW POINTS ON THE RWY, THOUGH RAIN HAD STOPPED FALLING. ALSO, HE STATED THE LOCAL CONTROLLER HAD NOT WARNED HIM OF POSSIBLE HYDROPLANING THOUGH AT LEAST 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN IN A SHORT PERIOD BEFORE THE PLANE HAD LANDED. THE 0244 CDT WIND WAS RPRTD TO BE FROM 200 DEG AT 9 KTS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_MKC89LA161.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

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