Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

The pilot was landing when his airplane encountered what he thought might be a microburst. His airplane had gone approximately 300 feet when the airplane's tail lifted up, the right wing came down, and the propeller struck the runway. The airplane then went off the right side of the runway where it struck a taxiway sign. The pilot immediately executed a go around, flew the airplane around the traffic pattern, and landed uneventfully. An examination of the airplane showed the left elevator counterweight was broken aft and missing. The left horizontal stabilizer was bent upward and aft. The left side bottom aft fuselage skin, ribs, and stringers showed longitudinally-running scrapes, tears, upward crushing, and aft bending. All three propeller blades showed tip damage. Nine propeller strikes were observed in the runway asphalt. An examination of the airplane's systems showed no anomalies.

The pilot said that he recalled approximately 2 minutes prior to landing the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) was reporting winds of 230 degrees at 3 knots.

Wind conditions reported at Hayden, Colorado (249 degrees at 30 miles), approximately 10 minutes prior to the accident were 210 degrees at 12 knots with gusts to 17 knots. Twenty minutes earlier, the wind conditions were 190 degrees at 12 knots with gusts to 14 knots. Ten minutes after the accident the wind conditions were 210 degrees at 8 knots, with winds becoming variable between 170 and 230 degrees.

The airport manager said that he had observed "dirt devils" on the airport prior to and after the accident. The pilot's inadvertent encounter with adverse weather conditions (dirt devils/whirlwinds) and his inability to control the airplane during that encounter resulting in the airplane impacting the runway, subsequently going off the side of the runway, and striking a taxiway sign. A factor contributing to the accident was the dirt devil.