DEN85LA139 · Boeing A75N1
Boeing A75N1 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Richfield, UT to CANYONLANDS, UT
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN85LA139
- 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
Boeing A75N1
- Aircraft type
- Boeing A75
- 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
- N49926
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Richfield, UTTo CANYONLANDS, UT
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Fuel starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Grand Junction, CO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT REPORTED THAT AS HE ARRIVED AT THE DESTINATION (CANYONLANDS, UT), THERE WAS A STORM OVER THE ARPT, SO HE DIVERTEDED TOWARD DELTA, CO. ABOUT 10 MI FROM DELTA, HE ENCOUNTERED ANOTHER STORM, SO HE TURNED TOWARD GRAND JUNCTION, CO. BEFORE REACHING THE ARPT, THE ENG LOST POWER DUE TO LACK OF FUEL. THE PLT STATED THAT THERE WAS 'JUST UNDER A QUARTER OF A TANK OF GAS' REMAINING. HOWEVER, THE ACFT HAD BEEN AIRBORNE AN ESTIMATED 3 HRS & 15 MIN & THE ENG CONSUMED ABOUT 14 GAL/HR. THE PLT STATED THAT THE ACFT HAD NOT BEEN FLOWN FOR APRX 4 YRS & HAD RUST IN THE FUEL LINES & FILTER. HE BELIEVED THAT THE RUST CAUSED FUEL STARVATION & THAT FLUSHING THE FUEL SYS WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THE POWER LOSS. DURING A FORCED LANDING, THE ACFT HIT A DIKE AS THE PLT TRIED TO BOUNCE OVER IT. THE GEAR COLLAPSED & A FENCE & CORN FIELD WERE DAMAGED. THE PLT REPORTED THAT THE ACFT HAD 46 GAL OF FUEL ON BOARD WHEN HE TOOK OFF.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN85LA139
- Event ID
- 20001214X36442
- Case number
- DEN85LA139
- 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: ef27cf37a3c8d90f65daf07424dd031e4903675bfe5a4f2417db999807303a17; retrieved 2026-09-23T17:36:33.879Z.