- Date
- January 31, 1987, 20:49 local (Feb 1, 1987, 03:49 UTC)
- Place
- Two Buttes, CO
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Aircraft
- N6320XCessna 340A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report July 5, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870131001849A
- Case key
- 17094
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Analysis
The plt and his wife were en route from palm springs, CA, to olathe, KS, and had stopped for fuel at farmington, NM. After departure, the acft was eventually cleared to FL 210. At 1934 the plt gave denver ARTCC the following PIREP: 'there's been some snow but I've been mostly in and out of the tops. Looks like I got clear skies above me most of the time...and it is moderately rough from time to time.' At 2045 Kansas city ARTCC advised the plt he was at FL 213. The plt acknowledged he had drifted off alt and was correcting and was heading 060 deg. At 2047 the controller advised the plt he was at FL 203. The plt replied, 'we've had a gyro failure.' At 2049 radar contact was lost. The acft impacted an open field in a near vertical attitude. There was no evidence of airframe, eng, prop, or flt control failure. Only one vacuum pump was recovered. The instrument panel and autoplt system were destroyed.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6320X
- Reported as
- Cessna 340A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 340A0491
- Airframe hours
- 1,426
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-N, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Wayne A. Bower
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 11, 1986
- Departed
- FMN · Farmington, NM
- Destination
- OJC · Olathe, KS
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 45
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 350 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 300° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 43 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LHK, 62 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.
Other investigations on N6320X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.