Crash of a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain in Durango: 4 killed
Date & Time:
Dec 31, 1981 at 2000 LT
Operator:
Registration:
N41070
Survivors:
Yes
Schedule:
Albuquerque - Durango
MSN:
31-8253005
YOM:
1981
Flight number:
SNW104
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
5
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
4
Captain / Total hours on type:
1381.00
Aircraft flight hours:
58
Circumstances:
Sun West Airlines Flight 104, a scheduled passenger-service commuter air carrier flight departed Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 1855 mountain standard time on December 31, 1981, with five passengers and one pilot aboard for a flight to Durango, Colorado. The en route portion of the flight, conducted under instrument flight rules, was normal. Flight 104 was cleared by Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center at 1951:37 for a VOR approach to Durango-La Plata County Airport. Radar service was terminated at 1953:30, when the flight was about 3 miles northeast of the Aztec Intersection on the VOR approach. About 2000LT, ground witnesses observed Flight 104 fly over the airport in a northerly direction about over the VOR transmitter (missed approach point) adjacent to the runway midpoint. The airplane descended and crashed about 1,350 feet east of the departure end of runway 2, about 3,250 feet from the VOR. The airplane was destroyed by impact and postimpact fire. The pilot and three passengers were killed and two passengers were seriously injured in the accident. Weather at the time of the accident was reported as "indefinite ceiling 400 feet sky obscured, 1 mile visibility in light snow and fog, with calm winds." Newly manufactured, the airplane was delivered to the company last December 23.
Probable cause:
The National Transportation Safety Board was unable to determine the probable cause of this accident, which occurred during an attempted missed approach. A low ceiling and poor visibility were factors which contributed to the accident.
Final Report:
