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DEN89IA067 · Boeing 707-323B

22 Jan 1989 · Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Boeing 707-323B · Incident: abrupt maneuver on approach

From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)

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Event

NTSB case
DEN89IA067
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
Incident
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
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Boeing 707-323B

Aircraft type
Boeing 707
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
N712PC
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, HITo Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
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 121: Air Carrier
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 · IFR final approach
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
Abrupt maneuver
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Minor

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Proper alignment, attempted
  • Pilot in command › Touchdown, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

PLT WAS EXECUTING CATEGORY I ILS APCH TO RWY 34L AFTER FLYING FROM HON TO SLC. PLT SAID HE 'CAME OFF GAUGES' AT 300 FT AGL EXPECTING TO SEE RWY BUT DIDN'T. AT 200 FT AGL, HE SAW RWY 150 FT TO LEFT BUT LOST ALL DEPTH PERCEPTION. PLT CONSIDERED EXECUTING MISSED APCH BUT FELT HE COULD ALIGN ACFT WITH RWY WITH ALT REMAINING. WHILE MANEUVERING, NO. 1 ENG STRUCK RWY, LEAVING 50-60 FT LONG, 1-INCH DEEP GOUGE. IN PREVIOUS 30 HR PERIOD, PLT HAD BEEN ON DUTY 18 HRS, 30 MIN, AND HAD FLOWN 13 HRS, 25 MIN. HE HAD BEEN OFF DUTY 11 HRS, 24 MIN, BUT HAD SLEPT ONLY 1 HR.

Probable cause

THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S ATTEMPT TO ALIGN THE AIRPLANE WITH THE RUNWAY AT AN ALTITUDE INSUFFICIENT FOR SAFE MANEUVERING, RESULTING IN THE NO. 1 ENGINE STRIKING THE RUNWAY. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS INCLUDE OBSCURED VISIBILITY DUE TO FOG, THE CAPTAIN'S LOSS OF DEPTH PERCEPTION, AND PILOT FATIGUE DUE TO DISRUPTED CIRCADIAN RHYTHM.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DEN89IA067
Event ID
20001213X27565
Case number
DEN89IA067
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: 80964e4c1c91d13437f41252e5a80634d477d1449a65f59e57cfb10ada9f07c8; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:14:34.318Z.