Douglas DC-9-10 incident near Salt Lake City, Utah, March 17, 1983
On March 17, 1983 at about 7:00 am local time, a Douglas DC-9-10, registered N9356, was involved in an incident near Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt; 84 people were on board or involved. The weather was instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The NTSB has not yet published a probable cause for this incident. Investigations usually take one to two years; this page updates when the final report is released.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- March 17, 1983 · about 7:00 am local time
- Place
- Salt Lake City, Utah · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 84 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- instrument conditions (cloud, fog or low visibility)
- Aircraft
- Douglas DC-9-10 · all DC-9-10s on the register
- Registration
- N9356 · no longer on the register · serial 47086
- Damage
- Not recorded
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
DURING CLIMB TO 28,000 FT AT 20,000 FT THE AUTO-PILOT DISENGAGED AND THE CREW REPORTED THAT THEY COULD NOT MOVE THE CONTROL COLUMN TO CONTROL PITCH. THE ACFT WAS OPERATING IN ICING CONDITIONS AT THE TIME. THE CREW LANDED THE ACFT BY UTILIZING THE TRIM CONTROL.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 14,615 hours in all; 7,615 in this make and model; 200 in the last 90 days
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Last inspection: inspection type not recorded
- Maximum gross weight: 91,500 lb
- Seats: 85
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: P&W JT8D (turbofan); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: SLC Salt Lake City UT at 10:09 pm
- Destination: TWF Twin Falls ID
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 0
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 300° at 6 knots
- Sky: broken clouds at 1,100 ft
- Temperature: 36°F (2°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
- Observation at 10:52 pm from SLC, 45 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 4 | |||
| Passengers | 80 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N9356 the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number LAX83IA147.