NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC19TA037
Registry · N6PF
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-19
Year of manufacture
1952 · 67 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20250419
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A7C3D8
Registrant of record
SOPLANDA MATTHEW J
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s loss of directional control during a go-around and his failure to assess the wind conditions appropriately before a landing attempt.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during an approach to land at a remote airstrip, while on short final, the head wind changed to a tail wind and he began to lose control authority of the airplane. He initiated a go-around and applied full throttle, and the airplane rolled left. The pilot was unable to control the airplane due to the slow airspeed, and the airplane impacted a tree on the left side of the runway. The fuselage and right wing sustained substantial damage and the passenger sustained serious injuries. The pilot reported that the airplane had no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation and that the accident could have been prevented had he taken more time to assess the weather conditions and ultimately decide not to land at the challenging airstrip. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Heading/course-Not attained/maintained
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Sudden wind shift-Effect on operation
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2019_ANC19TA037.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- Flight Safety Foundation 2024 · FSF / AeroSafety World
Go-Around Safety Forum Findings
Foundation Go-Around Safety Forum technical findings — examines why pilots fail to execute go-arounds when criteria are met (stabilized approach gate not met, energy state out of envelope, traffic con…
- Semantic Scholar 2022 · Article (Journal of Safety Research)
Go-around accidents and general aviation safety.
INTRODUCTION Changes in General Aviation (GA) accident rates, specifically in the go-around phase, are examined by comparing the number of accidents, the proportion of fatal accidents, and the proport…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aerospace)
Classification and Analysis of Go-Arounds in Commercial Aviation Using ADS-B Data
Go-arounds are a necessary aspect of commercial aviation and are conducted after a landing attempt has been aborted. It is necessary to conduct go-arounds in the safest possible manner, as go-arounds …
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes)
Go-Around Criteria Refinement for Transport Category Aircraft
Presently, airline pilots are trained to go around if, when lower than 500 ft above the ground, they are outside of a handful of parameters such as airspeed, position, and rate of descent.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Validation of Proposed Go-Around Criteria Under Various Environmental Conditions
This paper evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on touchdown performance under varying approach states and validates proposed go-around criteria developed using data from a previously con…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗