Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Monte Vista Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Monte Vista, Colorado 81144
Wednesday, October 18, 1989 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
WHILE IN CRUISE AT FL350 THE NO. 2 GENERATOR CONSTANT SPEED DRIVE (CSD) FAILED AND THE CREW INADVERTENTLY DISCONNECTED THE NO. 1 GENERATOR CSD. ATTEMPTS TO START THE APU ABOVE THE START ENVELOPE WERE MADE BUT ABORTED DUE TO A HOT START. A DESCENT WAS MADE ON EMERG ELECTRICAL POWER AND A LANDING WAS MADE AT AN ARPT WHICH WAS INADEQUATE FOR THE ACFT. THE CREW CHOSE TO MAKE A NO FLAP APCH AND TO LOWER LANDING GEAR BY EMERG METHOD WHEN BOTH SYSTEMS WERE OPERABLE BY NORMAL MEANS. THIS DECISION WAS INFLUENCED BY THE LACK OF LANDING GEAR AND FLAP POSITION INDICATORS WHEN THE ACFT IS OPERATED ON BATTERY POWER. THE LANDING SPEED WAS FAST AND THE ACFT DEPARTED THE END OF THE RWY DAMAGING THE LANDING GEAR AND THE NO. 1 ENGINE. THE CREW FAILED TO MANUALLY DEPRESSURIZE THE ACFT AND THE EVACUATION WAS DELAYED UNTIL A KNOWLEDGEABLE PASSENGER WENT TO THE COCKPIT AND DEPRESSURIZED THE ACFT. THE OPERATORS ACFT OPERATING MANUAL DID CONTAIN APU STARTING PROCEDURES BUT NOT AN APU START ENVELOPE CHART.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE POOR INFLIGHT PLANNING AND DECISIONS MADE BY THE FLIGHT CREW FOLLOWING THE FAILURE OF THE NUMBER TWO GENERATOR CONSTANT SPEED DRIVE UNIT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE FAILURE OF THE NO. 2 GENERATOR CONSTANT SPEED DRIVE UNIT AND THE CREW'S INADVERTENT SHUT DOWN OF THE WRONG GENERATOR WHICH RESULTED IN A COMPLETE LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/18/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 15 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | MONTE VISTA |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81144 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | MONTE VISTA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 08V |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 7608 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 51 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 215 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PUB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4726 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 100 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1400 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6500 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 102 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5032 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 18 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 130 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39110 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 1:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N922RW |
| NTSB Number | DEN90IA012 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS |
| Aircraft Model | DC-9 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DC-9 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 47182 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 108000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 116 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 13 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 68 |
| Airframe Hours | 61931 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTHWEST AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL INT'L |
| Aircraft Owner City | ST. PAUL |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55111 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | NWAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MSP |
| Departure City | MINNEAPOLIS |
| Departure State | MN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2230 |
| Departure Time Zone | MTN |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PHX |
| Destination City | PHOENIX |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 2 |
| Runway Length | 6000 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |