On December 2, 1992, a Champion 7KCAB (registration N2751G) operated by Flat Irons Aviation was involved in an aviation accident near Boulder, CO. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: UNDETERMINED. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive.
Company employees found substantial damage to the left wing of an aircraft while cleaning snow. The last pilot denied causing the damage, suggesting it occurred on a prior flight.
What happened
Employees of the operating company were performing routine maintenance on the aircraft when they removed accumulated snow from the airframe. During this process, they identified substantial structural damage to the left wing.
Following the discovery, investigators interviewed the pilot who had most recently rented and operated the aircraft. This individual explicitly denied causing any harm to the airplane during his flight. He proposed that the damage likely occurred during a previous flight phase, implying that he may have been operating the aircraft while it was already in a compromised condition.