- Date
- September 22, 2000, 22:00 local (Sep 23, 2000, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Broomfield, CO
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N388SPCessna 340
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 6, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000922015459A
- Case key
- 50343
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot landing the aircraft hard exceeding the design stress limits. Factors were: Low ceiling, freezing rain, dark night, excessive descent rate, and improper glide path.
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
At the completion of an on-demand air taxi flight carrying four passengers, a ILS approach was conducted followed by a hard landing which damaged the landing gear, both wings, and the tips of the left propeller blades. Lighting conditions were dark night. Weather during the approach/landing was 200-foot obscuration, 1/2-mile visibility in freezing drizzle and mist. The wind was from 360 degrees magnetic heading at 10 knots and the altimeter was 30.03 inches of mercury. The recorded temperature and dew point were both 34 degrees Fahrenheit.
Factual narrative
On September 22, 2000, at 2200 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 340, N388SP, operated by Star West Aviation, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in a hard landing at Jefferson County Airport, Broomfield, Colorado. The commercial pilot and the four passengers were not injured. The flight was an on-demand air taxi flight operating under Title 14 CFR Part 135 and an IFR flight plan was filed. Night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for this passenger flight, which originated from Rock Springs, Wyoming, at 2030.
According to the pilot, at the conclusion of an instrument landing system approach, he made a hard landing. The left main tire was blown, the main struts were flat, the upper and lower skin around both wing roots was rippled, and the tips of the left propeller blades were damaged. The damage was discovered during post flight inspection after the aircraft was parked on the ramp.
Jefferson County Airport recorded weather at the time of the accident was 200-foot sky obscured, visibility 1/2 mile with freezing drizzle and mist. The wind was from 360 degrees magnetic heading at 10 knots and the altimeter was 30.03 inches of mercury. The recorded temperature and dew point were both 34 degrees Fahrenheit.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N388SP
- Reported as
- Cessna 340
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 0337
- Airframe hours
- 3,488
- Engine
- Continental 520N, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Star West Aviation
- Registered owner
- Spur Aircraft, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 10, 2000 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- RKS · Rock Springs, WY
- Destination
- BJC
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BJC · Jefferson County, runway 29R, 9,000 × 100 ft, asphalt
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
- 32
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,863 total · 157 in this make and model · 2,598 as pilot in command · 320 in the last 90 days · 102 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 360° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 0.5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 200 ft
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BJC, 1 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 1, 2001, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 398 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.