Windrock Aviation Cessna T207 accident
Cessna T207 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX90FA145
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cessna T207
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 207
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N91081
- Operator
- Windrock Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN)To Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach · VFR go-around
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Exhaust system, turbocharger › Incorrect
- Maintenance, adjustment › Improper
- Pilot in command › Throttle/power control, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE ACFT WAS ABOUT TO TOUCHDOWN FROM A NORMAL APCH TO RWY 21, WHEN IT ENCOUNTERED VARIALBLE WIND CONDS & BALLOONED TO ABOUT 70' AGL. THE PLT INITIATED A GO-AROUND. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, WITNESSES OBSERVED A PUFF OF SMOKE EMANATE FROM THE ACFT, THEN THE PLT TRANSMITTED THAT THE FLT WAS 'GOING DOWN.' SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES ON WOODED TERRAIN ABOUT 1/2 MI FROM THE DEP END OF THE RWY. AN EXAM REVEALED A LACK OF POWER SIGNATURES ON THE PROP; EVIDENCE OF SOOTING WAS FOUND ON THE SPARK PLUGS (INDICATING A RICH MIXTURE). TESTING OF THE TURBO-CONTROLLER REVEALED EVIDENCE THAT IT HAD BEEN ADJUSTED TO A LOW SETTING; THE TURBO WOULD ONLY PRODUCE A MAXIMUM AIR FLOW EQUAL TO HIGH CRUISE POWER. THE ENG MANUFACTURER RPRTD THAT THIS SITUATION COULD PRODUCE AN OVER-RICH MIXTURE, PARTICULARILY IF THE THROTTLE AND/OR MIXTURE CONTROLS WERE IMPROPPERLY MANIPULATED. THE PILOT LACKED EXPERIENCE IN ACFT WITH TURBO-CHARGED ENGS & HE WAS NOT TRAINED IAW THE COMPANY TRAINING PROGRAM.
Probable cause
IMPROPER ADJUSTMENT OF THE TURBO-CHARGER ABSOLUTE PRESSURE CONTROLLER, AND IMPROPER MANIPULATION OF THE POWER PLANT CONTROLS BY THE PILOT DURING THE GO-AROUND. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: FAILURE OF COMPANY MANAGEMENT TO PROPERLY TRAIN THE PILOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE APPROVED COMPANY TRAINING PROGRAM, AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN TURBO-CHARGED ENGINE OPERATIONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX90FA145
- Event ID
- 20001212X22937
- Case number
- LAX90FA145
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ba035f763453c32766c35b95d9f54a3a3941b165350a7bccb4b7acbab2a3c892; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:03:24.451Z.