Beechcraft V35A N68VT

Summary

On 5 June 1999 at about 16:19 local time, a Beechcraft V35A registered N68VT, operated by Kenneth R. Messer, was involved in an accident near Nederland, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 June 1999 at 16:19

Classification

Accident

Location

Nederland, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.9592, -105.4991

Aircraft

Beechcraft V35A

Registration

N68VT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Kenneth R. Messer

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lee's Summit → Kremmling

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN99FA093

1 person died.

The pilot's intentional and continued flight into instrument meteorological conditions. Factors were his failure to obtain a weather briefing, the existing weather conditions that included snow, hail, obscuration and lightning, and the mountainous terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed Lee's Summit, Missouri, on the morning of the accident to visit family members in Kremmling, Colorado. He initiated flight following services with Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and then Denver TRACON while en route and at 1015:31, services were terminated. The pilot was advised to re-contact Denver ARTCC for further advisories, but failed to do so. The last National Track Analysis Program (NTAP) radar 'hit' of the accident airplane was at 1019:23 at an altitude of 12,600 feet. According to witnesses working several miles east of the accident site, they heard an airplane flying overhead traveling east to west and low to the ground; however, low cloud cover, snow and poor visibility prevented them from viewing the aircraft. A squall line 3 miles wide running north/south was passing through the area, with hail and cloud to cloud lightening. The mountains to the west and the direction in which the airplane was traveling were obscured. At 1943, an alert notice (ALNOT) was issued. A search was initiated, and the aircraft was located at 1430 the following afternoon. The airplane was found along a 45 degree inclining slope at an elevation of 12,808 feet mean sea level on a glacier along the north face of Arapaho Peak on the east side of the Continental Divide.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.