Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Denver International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Denver, Colorado
Saturday, December 20, 2008 18:18 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/04.
On December 20, 2008, about 1818 mountain standard time, Continental Airlines flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500, N18611, departed the left side of runway 34R during takeoff from Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado. A postcrash fire ensued. The captain and 5 of the 110 passengers were seriously injured; the first officer, 2 cabin crewmembers, and 38 passengers received minor injuries; and 1 cabin crewmember and 67 passengers (3 of whom were lap-held children) were uninjured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The scheduled, domestic passenger flight, operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, was departing DEN and was destined for George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas. At the time of the accident, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, with strong and gusty winds out of the west. The flight operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The captain’s cessation of right rudder input, which was needed to maintain directional control of the airplane, about 4 seconds before the excursion, when the airplane encountered a strong and gusty crosswind that exceeded the captain’s training and experience. Contributing to the accident were the following factors: 1) an air traffic control system that did not require or facilitate the dissemination of key, available wind information to the air traffic controllers and pilots; and 2) inadequate crosswind training in the airline industry due to deficient simulator wind gust modeling.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/20/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1818 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Denver |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Denver International Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KDEN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5100 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1834 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KDEN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 27 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 42 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 41 |
| Injury Total None | 68 |
| Injury Total Serious | 6 |
| Injury Total All | 47 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 17 2010 6:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | schd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N18611 |
| NTSB Number | DCA09MA021 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING |
| Aircraft Model | 737-524 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 27324 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 3 |
| Passenger Seats | 110 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 115 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WELLS FARGO BANK NORTHWEST NA TRUSTEE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 299 S MAIN ST # U1228-120 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84111-2263 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Houston |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | CALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | CALA014A |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KDEN |
| Departure City | Denver |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KIAH |
| Destination City | Houston |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 10 2010 2:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | engb |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34R |
| Runway Length | 12000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |