DEN87LA102 · Aero Commander S-2D
Aero Commander S-2D · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Deming Municipal Airport (DMN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN87LA102
- 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
Aero Commander S-2D
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander S-2
- 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
- N1714S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Deming Municipal Airport (DMN), Deming, NMTo not recorded
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Wire, transmission; Utility pole
- 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
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, improper
- Pilot in command › Proper alignment, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT DEPARTED DEMING, NM AND FLEW TO A RANCH 15 MI N OF COLUMBUS, NM, TO POSITION THE ACFT FOR AERIAL SPRAYING THAT DAY. IT WAS STILL DARK WHEN THE PLT MADE HIS APCH TO A ROAD PARALLELED BY POWER LINES ON THE LEFT AND TELEPHONE CABLE MARKER POSTS ON THE RIGHT. THE PLT SAID HE HAD LANDED ON THIS ROAD PREVIOUSLY. THE ACFT WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH A LANDING LIGHT. THE PLT SAID HE APPARENTLY ALLOWED THE ACFT TO DRIFT TO THE LEFT. REALIZING THIS, THE PLT ADDED POWER AND BANKED IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE A GO-AROUND. THE LEFT WING TIP SNAGGED A POWER LINE THEN A DOUBLE TRANSFORMER POLE. THE ACFT CARTWHEELED AND CRASHED IN AN ADJOINING FIELD, COMING TO REST INVERTED. THE PLT SAID HE SUSTAINED MINOR INJURIES. THE ACFT WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN87LA102
- Event ID
- 20001213X30654
- Case number
- DEN87LA102
- 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: cda06f1d486c8c796453fbb59a4dbe88905251333c954496c738018105f57d21; retrieved 2026-09-22T00:56:20.057Z.