- Date
- March 29, 1992, 19:00 local (Mar 30, 1992, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Taos, NM
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 5 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N111FLRockwell 690A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920329007579A
- Case key
- 18355
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 in command's failure to maintain the climb after departing the runway environment. Factors were the weather conditions and the dark night.
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 airplane impacted slightly rising terrain in a 15 degree left bank, slight nose up attitude while descending shortly after takeoff in dark night IMC. There were rain and snow showers in the area and it was devoid of visible ground reference lights. The difference between the takeoff heading and the impact heading was 75 degrees and the airplane had traveled 3,987 feet from the departure end of the runway at initial impact. The wreckage subsequently traveled an additional 837 feet through the brush. The pilot stated that the takeoff was normal in all aspects and all of the airplane systems were operating normally. He stated that the last thing he remembered was passing through 8,500 feet with a rate of climb of 1,500 feet per minute. The airport elevation was 7,091 feet. He did not recall the radio altimeter alert or the warning light activating. No evidence of pre-impact failure or malfunction was found during the investigation. Rescue of the occupants were delayed due to the weather, darkness, and spurious ELT signals masked by the wreckage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N111FL
- Reported as
- Rockwell 690A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 11163
- Airframe hours
- 3,404
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331-5-251, 717 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Legal Air Flight Services, Inc
- Registered owner
- Legal Air Flight Services, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · March 9, 1992 · 24 hours before
- Destination
- RVS · Tulsa, OK
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SKX · Taos Muni, runway 4, 5,798 × 75 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
- 30
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,200 total · 120 in this make and model · 1,145 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 140° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.