DEN84FTM01 · Keith A Smith KR-2
Keith A Smith KR-2 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From U42 · West Jordan, UT to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN84FTM01
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Keith A Smith KR-2
- Aircraft type
- Keith A Smith KR-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
- N54KS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From U42 · West Jordan, UTTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Stall/spin
- 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
- Engine assembly, piston › Overtemperature
- Engine assembly, valve, intake › Overtemperature
- Mixture control › Incorrect
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, adjustment, improper
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A MOUNTAIN RIDGE IN A FLAT'PANCAKE'ATTITUDE,NO EVIDENCE OF FOWARD MOTION WAS APPARENT AND ALL THEWRECKAGE WAS CONFINED TO THE IMMEDIATE AREA. THE WOODEN PROP WAS INTACT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 2 INCHES MISSING FROM THE END OF ONE BLADE, AND NO ROTATIONAL DAMAGE WA NOTED. THE FUSELAGE WAS TWISTED TO THE RIGHT AND DETACHED FROM THE WINGS. ROCK UNDER THE WRECKAGE WERE PRESSED STRAIGHT DOWN INTO THE SURFACE. THE ACCIDENT LOCATION WAS ABOUT 1/2 WAY UP A 6500 FT RIDGE WHICH FORMED A BOX CANYON KNOW AS DEADMAN'S WASH. THE ENGINE LOG WAS NOTED FOR ALL FLTS & INDICATED THE ENGINE HAD AN OVERHEAT PROBLEM. THIS ENGINE WAS BUILT AS'NEW'BY THE PLT FROM PARTS AND PLANS AS OBTAINED FROM HAPI ENGINES. THE PLT HAD LIMITED EXPERIENCE WITH POWERPLANTS. POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION SHOWED THAT THE MIXTURE CONTROL METERING ROD WAS NOTED TO HAVE ONLY HALF OF THE METERING ORFICE OPEN AT FULL RICH MIXTURE. THIS WOULD CAUSE A LEAN MIXTURE AT FULL RICH. THE PISTONS AND VALVES SHOWED EVIDENCE OF OPERATING AT EXCESSIVE TEMPERATURES WITH EXCESSIVE WEAR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN84FTM01
- Event ID
- 20001214X38748
- Case number
- DEN84FTM01
- 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: 177022e9a9ae933eb6c366a1e81161abf78c111bc1d39d48c0003befadb186e5; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:38:20.489Z.