- Date
- September 24, 1994, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Byers, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N71245Luscombe 8A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 27, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940924031169A
- Case key
- 19173
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 by the pilot to maintain a proper descent rate during approach to landing. A factor was lack of experience in make, model, and type of aircraft.
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 pilot was conducting an approach to a private airstrip. The aircraft established a high sink rate on final and landed short of the runway in a ditch. The pilot had less than one hour of experience in make, model, and type of aircraft.
Factual narrative
On September 24, 1994, at 1200 mountain daylight time, a Luscombe 8A, N71245, sustained substantial damage when it landed short of the runway at a private airstrip near Byers, Colorado. The pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this local personal flight and no flight plan was filed.
According to the pilot, he got into a high sink rate condition on short final. The aircraft landed short and collided with a drainage ditch. Weather at the time of the accident was clear with winds out of the north at 7 knots. The density altitude was 7,000 feet.
From information provided by the pilot, this was his first flight in this type aircraft and he had accumulated less than one hour in make and model.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71245
- Reported as
- Luscombe 8A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2672
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Hough, Howard A.
- Registered owner
- Howell, Nicholas A.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- CO
- Destination
- CO
- Airport
- Sky Haven (Private), runway 35, 3,500 × 30 ft, dirt
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
- 50
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 750 total · 1 in this make and model · 700 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DEN, 40 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 N71245 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.