DEN89LA107 · Stinson 108-3
Stinson 108-3 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From 01V to O1V
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN89LA107
- 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
- General aviation
- 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
Stinson 108-3
- Aircraft type
- Stinson 108
- 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
- N993C
- Operator
- Lepka, Richard L. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 01VTo O1V
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE COMMERCIAL PLT/A&P/IA WAS COMPLETING OVER HAUL AND RESTORATION OF THE STINSON. ACCORDING TO THE PRIVATE RATED PAX, THE PLT DECIDED TO TAKE THE PLANE AROUND THE PATTERN FOR A TEST FLIGHT. THE PLT SAID IN HIS WRITTEN REPORT THAT NO FLIGHT WAS INTENDED. BOTH THE PLT AND THE PAX AGREE THAT DURING TAKEOFF GROUND RUN, A STRONG GUST HIT THE PLANE, RAISING THE RIGHT WING. THE ACFT DEPARTED THE RUNWAY TO THE LEFT, THE LEFT WING STRUCK THE TERRAIN, AND THE ACFT CARTWHEELED. THE FUSELAGE, BOTH WING SPARS, AND THE STABILATOR WERE BROKEN. A POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED EVIDENCE THAT THE ACFT HAD BEEN MOVED FROM THE ACCIDENT SCENE TO THE REAR OF A HANGAR, STRIPPED OF ALL INSTRUMENTATION, AND ABANDONED. WITNESSES AND THE AIRPORT MANAGER REPORTED THE ACCIDENT THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE PLT DID NOT REPORT THE ACCIDENT TO THE NTSB OR FAA UNTIL CONTACTED BY LETTER. THE PLT REPORTED THAT A 'DUST DEVIL' STRUCK THE AIRCRAFT BUT THE PAX AND WITNESSES REPORTED A STRONG GUST.
Probable cause
THE INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR WIND CONDITIONS BY THE PILOT. LACK OF RECENT EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF AIRCRAFT IS CONSIDERED A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN89LA107
- Event ID
- 20001213X28081
- Case number
- DEN89LA107
- 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: 43fcc1ff29120e05c8556f20156d240e13577290182935329027f69dd00290e3; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:43:08.223Z.