ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 13584
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| Date: | Thursday 31 December 1981 |
| Time: | 20:00 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain |
| Owner/operator: | Sun West Airlines |
| Registration: | N41070 |
| MSN: | 31-8253005 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1981 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Durango–La Plata County Airport, 12 miles SE of Durango, Colorado -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABO/KABO) |
| Durango–La Plata County Airport, Durango, Colorado (DRO/KDRO) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
About 20:00 mountain standard time, on December 31, 1981, Sun West Airlines, Inc., Flight 104, operated by N41070, a Piper PA-31-350, crashed during an attempted missed approach at Durango–La Plata County Airport, 12 miles SE of Durango, Colorado.
The pilot had executed a non-precision VOR-DME approach to runway 2 at Durango-La Plata County Airport in weather conditions at or slightly below the landing minimums for the approach. The airplane descended and crashed about 3,250 feet from the missed approach point. The pilot and three passengers were killed and two passengers were seriously injured as a result of the accident.
The Safety Board was unable to determine the cause of the accident which occurred at night during marginal weather conditions, and during a period of heavy pilot workload. Flight 104 was being operated as a single-pilot, instrument flight rules (IFR) flight in accordance with the provisions of 14 CFR Part 135.
Single pilot operation in environmental conditions such as those existing at the time of the accident, coupled with the workload in conducting a non precision approach and missed approach in a twin-engine airplane, is very demanding. While numerous successful single-pilot operations occur daily in poor weather and high workload situations, the margin for error is much less during such operations because of the lack of redundancy provided by a second pilot.
The issue of single pilot IFR operations in commuter service was examined by the Safety Board as part of its special study of commuter airlines in 1980. Seventy percent of the operators surveyed as part of that study stated that their companies were authorized to conduct single pilot IFR flights; however, many commented that the practice was "marginally safe" for many reasons. Among the reasons cited were the high workload factors associated with high density air traffic control areas and airport environments, and the demands of the cockpit which can overburden a single pilot.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: DCA82AA007 at https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=24256&key=0
2. FAA: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=41070
3. http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8213.pdf
4. https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/A82_145.pdf
5. https://law.justia.com/cases/arizona/supreme-court/1985/17965-sa-2.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 27-Jul-2010 11:02 | harro | Updated [Operator] |
| 15-May-2015 02:06 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Sep-2017 20:15 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 27-Sep-2017 20:16 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source] |
| 12-Feb-2020 15:10 | harro | Updated [Source, Accident report, ] |
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