Date: August 7, 1975
Type: Boeing 727-224
Registration: N88777
Operator: Continental Air Lines, Inc.
Where: Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado
Report No. NTSB-AAR-76-14
Report Date: May 5, 1976
Pages: 43

About 1611 m.d.t., on August 7, 1975, Continental Air Lines Flight 426, 
crashed after takeoff from the Stapleton International Airport, Denver, 
Colorado.  The aircraft climbed to about 100 feet above runway 35L and 
then crashed near the departure end of the runway.  The 134 persons 
aboard the aircraft survived the crash; 15 persons were injured 
seriously.  The aircraft was damaged substantially.

At the time of the accident, a thunderstorm with associated rainshowers 
was moving over the northern portion of the airport.  The thunderstorm 
was surrounded by numerous other thunderstorms and associated rainshowers 
but none of these were in the immediate vicinity of the airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable 
cause of this accident was the aircraftUs encounter, immediately 
following takeoff, with severe wind shear at an altitude and airspeed 
which precluded recovery to level flight; the wind shear caused the 
aircraft to descend at a rate which could not be overcome even though the 
aircraft was flown at or near its maximum lift capability throughout the 
encounter.  The wind shear was generated by the outflow from a 
thunderstorm which was over the aircraft's departure path.