- Date
- November 15, 1987, 14:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Denver, CO
- Injuries
- 28 fatal, 28 serious, 25 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N626TXMcdonnell Douglas DC-9-14
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 19, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 15891
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-88/09. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm
Weather conditions were moderate snow and freezing temps. Following a 27 minute delay between deicing and departure, on tkof the acft was over-rotated by the f/o. acft control was lost, the acft stalled and impacted off the right side of the rwy. Company procedures called for repeat deicing when in icing conditions if a delay exceeds 20 minutes. Confusion between the tower and the flight crew due to procedural errors resulted in the delayed tkof clrnc. Both pilots were inexperienced in their respective crew positions. The capt had 33 hrs experience as a DC-9 capt. the f/o had 36 hrs jet experience, all in the DC-9. F/o demonstrated weak scan in trng and had plt performance probs with previous employers. F/o was on reserve, and had not flown for 24 days. The trip was assigned to the f/o for proficiency. Flt was f/o's 2nd trip as DC-9 f/o. wing vortices from a landing acft on a parallel runway were not a factor in the accident. (For further information, see NTSB/AAR-88/09.)
Aircraft
- Registration
- N626TX
- Reported as
- Mcdonnell Douglas DC-9-14
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 45726
- Engine
- P&W JT8-D, 15,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Continental Airlines, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Destination
- BOI · Boise, ID
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- DEN · Stapleton International, runway 35L, 11,500 × 150 ft, concrete
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 43
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 12,125 total · 166 in this make and model · 160 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 10 knots, gusting 17
- Lowest ceiling
- 500 ft
- Temperature
- 28 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DEN, 1 nm away