Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Snowmass Villag, Colorado 81615
Wednesday, August 15, 2001 9:42 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, they were flying up the canyon to gain altitude to clear the mountain passes, and after approximately 10 minutes, had a gain of approximately 3,000 feet in altitude. There was no indication of an engine problem and the engine "appeared to be running smoothly, but the plane would not climb" and the airplane "mysteriously" began to lose airspeed to the point of descending 500 feet per minute in level flight. The airspeed was at 80 knots with "full power, and full pitch props, and leaned mixture." After recognizing the "flight condition," he only had a few minutes to "control the descent to a crash landing in the aspen trees." He stated that they did not receive any injuries upon impact; however, they received "flash burns," which he thought, "originated from fuel vapors from broken fuel lines." Witnesses stated that the airplane was flying approximately 100 feet above the trees and was "climbing with what seemed to be a constant engine speed." Just before the airplane disappeared behind a building, the left wing "drop slightly." Moments later, the engine noise stopped and a large black cloud of smoke appear above the trees. Another witness stated that approximately 20 minutes after calling 911 to report the accident, he observed the pilot and passenger walking down the road. He immediately assisted them and transported them to an approaching ambulance. A police officer observed a column of white smoke rising straight up and for nearly 100 feet above the trees. He stated that the wreckage was "engulfed in flames and moderately exploding," but the surrounding area was unaffected by the post-crash fire that consumed most of the wreckage. A post-examination of the airplane wreckage revealed no anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain altitude/clearance from the rising terrain for undetermined reasons. Contributing factors include high density altitude conditions, and trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/15/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 942 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | SNOWMASS VILLAG |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81615 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391148N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1061509W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 260 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KASE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7815 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.4 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 9090 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12501 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NW OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 15 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1045 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | DENVER, COLORADO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N994JT |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA146 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Commander |
| Aircraft Model | 114-B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 14665 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3260 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TEDDER GROUP, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 100 NE 3RD AVE, SUITE 600 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT LAUDERDALE |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33301 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KASE |
| Departure City | ASPEN |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 926 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KDDC |
| Destination City | DODGE CITY |
| Destination State | KS |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2002 10:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |