DEN05FA074 · Cessna T210G
Cessna T210G · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route
From Page Municipal Airport (PGA) to Elbert, CO
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN05FA074
- 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
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
Cessna T210G
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- 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
- N6807R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Page Municipal Airport (PGA), Page, AZTo Elbert, CO
- 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
- 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 › Aircraft control, not possible
- Pilot in command › Design stress limits of aircraft, exceeded
- Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, inadvertent
- Wing › Separation
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane was reported missing and the Civil Air Patrol located the wreckage near Mt. Whitehouse. A debris path, approximately 1/2 mile wide and 1 1/2 miles long was located in mountainous terrain, varying in elevation from 10,000 feet to 12,800 feet mean seal level. National Track Analysis Program radar data depicted the accident flight from 1252:27 until 1856:17, and the altitude varied from 17,500 feet msl to 19,200 feet msl. The aircraft ground speed during this time was measured to be between 124 knots and 314 knots. No flight plan had been filed and no weather briefing had been obtained. An Airman's Meteorological Information (AIRMET) for occasional moderate turbulence below FL180 (Flight Level 18,000 feet) was valid. The last radar return from the accident airplane was located within this advisory area. In addition, an AIRMET for occasional moderate turbulence between FL180 and FL410 and possible mountain wave action had been issued. The last radar return from the accident airplane was located within this advisory area. The right wing was located 4,461 feet (0.8 miles) west of the main wreckage at an elevation of 11,175 feet msl. The left wing was located 2,772 feet (0.5 miles) west of the main wreckage at an elevation of 11,500 feet msl.. The debris path started with the right wing and continued in an easterly direction towards the main wreckage. The propeller was located directly above the main wreckage at an estimated altitude of 12,800 feet msl. The fuselage, engine, propeller, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator were not recovered. These could not be examined for anomalies. The airplane's systems, including the vacuum, pitot static, electrical, and powerplant, could not be examined for anomalies. No evidence of fatigue cracking or other type of preexisting fracture was noted within the recovered wings. No record of a preflight or in-flight weather briefing, obtained by the pilot, was located.
Probable cause
the pilot's inadvertent flight into adverse weather conditions, loss of control, and resulting exceedence of the design stress limits of the aircraft. which led to an in-flight structural failure. Factors in the accident included the pilot's inadequate preflight and in-flight planning and decision making, the severe turbulence, and the mountain wave.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN05FA074
- Event ID
- 20050524X00660
- Case number
- DEN05FA074
- 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, coordinates. 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: ccd1d80ec2de43e9f189715216cbecfa1fd2f20d07539c1d58d33a854ce30b95; retrieved 2026-09-20T18:03:37.208Z.