FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

DEN86FA039 · Beech 35-B33

5 Dec 1985 · Columbia Falls, MT, United States

Beech 35-B33 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during initial climb

From an unrecorded airport to Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD)

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
DEN86FA039
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
1 · 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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Beech 35-B33

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 35
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
N5637K
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Ogden Hinckley Airport (OGD), Ogden, 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
Initial climb
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 encounter with weather
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

  • Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, initiated
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, performed
  • Pilot in command › Weather evaluation, disregarded

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

NTSB narrative

THE ACFT CONTACTED SNOW COVERED TERRAIN IN AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT APRX 3 MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF. THE PLT OBTAINED A WX BRIEFING FROM KALISPELL, MT, NWS AND UPDATED BRIEFINGS FROM MISSOULA AND GREAT FALLS, MT, FSS, FOR PROPOSED NIGHT VFR FLT TO OGDEN, UT. VFR FLT WAS NOT RECOMMENDED. KALISPELL WX WAS SKY PARTIALLY OBSCURED, MEASURED CEILING 100 FT OVERCAST, VISIBILITY 2 MILES WITH FOG. THE PLT ASKED FOR A SPECIAL VFR CLEARANCE TO OGDEN. THE CONTROLLER ASKED IF HE WANTED 'FLIGHT FOLLOWING ALL THE WAY.' THE PLT ANSWERED AFFIRMATIVELY. THE PLT WAS NEVER GIVEN A SPECIAL VFR CLEARANCE. RADAR SHOWS THE ACFT TAKING OFF AT ABOUT 2128 MST. LAST CONTACT WAS AT 2130 MST. THE PLT WAS NOT INSTRUMENT RATED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record DEN86FA039
Event ID
20001214X38387
Case number
DEN86FA039
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-12-06.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: faa73ee1a849df801b99e008148a64767a15c3e8bdc48da908980fb3cd8f394d; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:44:40.015Z.