Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents
Learn from Colorado's accident history to fly safer in the Rockies
2310 Total Accidents
425 Fatal
816 Fatalities
1982-2026
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Minor/None
ENGLEWOOD, Colorado
NTSB Narrative
On August 14, 1995, at 0842 mountain daylight time, a Beech J35, N8344D, sustained substantial damage during during takeoff at Centennial Airport, Englewood, Colorado. The three pilots aboard were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed for this Title 14 CFR Part 91 local area mountain flying instructional flight and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed.
According to information provided by the pilots under instruction, (hereafter referred to as students), they came to the Denver area on August 11, 1995, in their aircraft, from Saint Louis, Missouri, for the specific purpose of receiving mountain flying training. They selected the instructor based on information they had received from a friend and on information provided to them by the flight instructor.
The students stated that they met the instructor shortly after 0700 the day of the accident. Prior to the instructor's arrival, the students said they had conducted a preflight of the aircraft and had received a weather brief from Denver Automated Flight Service Station. Weather was VMC and expected to remain so with the possibility of rain showers in the afternoon.
At the time they conducted the preflight, the main fuel tanks were serviced to full and the auxiliary fuel tanks were empty. They said they had the aircraft fueled in this manner to conserve weight as they had been told that fuel was available at the mountain airports they were going to.
Following a discussion of the flight and mountain flying with the instructor, the students were told by the instructor to have the auxiliary tanks filled and that the additional weight would not be a problem. The students were also told that they would depart using a short field takeoff using zero flaps.
They then filed a VFR flight plan and figured takeoff ground roll to be approximately 2,200 feet on runway 10 which, although it was the shortest runway, the instructor told them they would use due to the winds being 100 degrees at 10 knots and decreased taxi time.
According to the students, during the preflight discussion, they were not briefed on emergencies or given any instructions on who would fly the aircraft in the event an emergency should occur.
In the post-accident interview and written statement, the flight instructor related that she did not consider herself to be pilot in command.
The students said that they decided the least experienced would fly first. Following taxi to the hold short area and run up, the instructor (according to written statements and interview notes) told the student flying to hold the brakes, set the propeller to full increase, apply maximum throttle and lean the engine by sound until it ran rough and then advance the mixture two or three turns. The aircraft was equipped with both fuel flow and exhaust gas temperature (EGT) gauges and they were functional.
According to the attached instructor's statement, she showed the student flying how to lean the mixture by reduci
According to information provided by the pilots under instruction, (hereafter referred to as students), they came to the Denver area on August 11, 1995, in their aircraft, from Saint Louis, Missouri, for the specific purpose of receiving mountain flying training. They selected the instructor based on information they had received from a friend and on information provided to them by the flight instructor.
The students stated that they met the instructor shortly after 0700 the day of the accident. Prior to the instructor's arrival, the students said they had conducted a preflight of the aircraft and had received a weather brief from Denver Automated Flight Service Station. Weather was VMC and expected to remain so with the possibility of rain showers in the afternoon.
At the time they conducted the preflight, the main fuel tanks were serviced to full and the auxiliary fuel tanks were empty. They said they had the aircraft fueled in this manner to conserve weight as they had been told that fuel was available at the mountain airports they were going to.
Following a discussion of the flight and mountain flying with the instructor, the students were told by the instructor to have the auxiliary tanks filled and that the additional weight would not be a problem. The students were also told that they would depart using a short field takeoff using zero flaps.
They then filed a VFR flight plan and figured takeoff ground roll to be approximately 2,200 feet on runway 10 which, although it was the shortest runway, the instructor told them they would use due to the winds being 100 degrees at 10 knots and decreased taxi time.
According to the students, during the preflight discussion, they were not briefed on emergencies or given any instructions on who would fly the aircraft in the event an emergency should occur.
In the post-accident interview and written statement, the flight instructor related that she did not consider herself to be pilot in command.
The students said that they decided the least experienced would fly first. Following taxi to the hold short area and run up, the instructor (according to written statements and interview notes) told the student flying to hold the brakes, set the propeller to full increase, apply maximum throttle and lean the engine by sound until it ran rough and then advance the mixture two or three turns. The aircraft was equipped with both fuel flow and exhaust gas temperature (EGT) gauges and they were functional.
According to the attached instructor's statement, she showed the student flying how to lean the mixture by reduci
Case Study & Lessons Learned
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Details
| NTSB Report | FTW95LA340 |
| Aircraft | BEECH J35 |
| Registration | N8344D |
| Damage | SUBS |
| FAR Part | 091 |
| Location | 39.6393, -104.9901 |
