- Date
- December 19, 1983, 21:22 local (Dec 20, 1983, 04:22 UTC)
- Place
- Rock Springs, WY
- Injuries
- 33 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N73162Convair 440
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831219064809A
- Case key
- 16188
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
Combs airways, flt 709, collided with a snow bank during the landing roll at sweetwater county aprt. The capt reported that 'immediately after touchdown, the acft veered left, struck a snow bank, then veered to the right 180 deg coming to rest on the rwy facing to the east.' The prop & gear box separated from the right eng. An investigation revealed no evidence of a malfunction or failure prior to the acdnt. The arpt manager reported that snow showers & drifting snow had almost totally covered the rwy markings, including the rwy centerline. Snow plowing operations had been in effect on the day of the acdnt. The center of the plowed area was several feet to the right of the rwy centerline. Numerous finger drifts were present from the left edge of the plowed area to the center of the rwy. There were 2 ft snow banks on each side of the snow plowed area.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N73162
- Reported as
- Convair 440
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 361
- Airframe hours
- 50,736
- Engine
- Allison 501-D13, 4,000 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Combs Airways
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- AAIP · November 11, 1983 · 169 hours before
- Departed
- DEN · Denver, CO
- Destination
- RKS · Rock Springs, WY
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- RKS · Sweetwater County, runway 27, 10,000 × 150 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
- 41
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,010 total · 210 in this make and model · 200 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 290° at 14 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft
- Temperature
- 19 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RKS, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.