- Date
- September 22, 1990, 11:10 local (17:10 UTC)
- Place
- Marble, CO
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9643GCessna 182P
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 17, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900922041499A
- Case key
- 17848
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
Failure of the private pilot (student pilot) to maintain sufficient altitude and airspeed above mountainous terrain, and inadequate supervision by the instructor pilot (CFI) and her delay in taking remedial action. Factors related to the accident were: the terrain conditions, high density altitude, and diversion of the cfi's attention.
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 instructor (CFI) was providing a mountain (mtn) flying check-out to a pvt plt. Witnesses rprtd that before the acft crashed, it was flying 'very low' up the middle of a valley toward a 12,700' mtn pass. It then entered a turn & disappeared from their view before crashing. Impact occurred at an elev of about 11,200'. The pvt plt was fatally injured; the CFI & passenger rcvd serious injuries. The CFI (a 95 lb woman) stated that the pvt plt was bigger than her & that he kept overpowering her. She said he did not fight her for the ctls, but would not follow her advice to keep the nose down to maintain a safe speed, & that he would not fly on the windward side of valleys. After she diverted her attention to look at a map, she looked up & noted they were in a valley with rising terrain on all sides. The pvt plt relinquished the ctls & the CFI atmtd to reverse direction, but the acft impacted the side of the valley.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9643G
- Reported as
- Cessna 182P
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18263412
- Airframe hours
- 2,750
- Engine
- Continental O-470-R, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- S W Aircraft, Inc.
- Registered owner
- S.W. Aircraft Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 10, 1990 · 4 hours before
- Departed
- LUX · Leadville, CO
- Destination
- GUC · Gunnison, CO
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,035 total · 24 in this make and model · 976 as pilot in command · 72 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GUC, 29 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 N9643G · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.