NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ATL02LA068
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The students pilot's failure to perform a go-around after a bounced landing condition that resulted in the on-ground collision with a ditch.
Factual narrative
On March 28, 2002, at 1630 eastern standard time, a Cessna 152, N5530Q, registered to Alpha Leasing LLC, and operated by Phoenix East Aviation, ran off the runway during landing at Melbourne International Airport, Melbourne, Florida. The instructional flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 and visual flight rules. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed for the solo cross country flight. The airplane sustained substantial damage, and the student pilot was not injured. The flight originated from Daytona Beach, Florida, at 1000. According to the student pilot, he was on a cross country flight from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Vero Beach, Florida, to Melbourne, Florida, and back to Daytona Beach. Upon approaching Melbourne, Florida, the student pilot was cleared by the Air Traffic Control Tower to land on runway 4. During landing the airplane bounced several times, ran off the end of the 3000 foot runway and collided with a ditch coming to rest inverted. As the airplane bounced down the runway the pilot thought about executing a go-around but believed there was enough runway available for a landing. Examination of the airplane revealed structural damage to the vertical stabilizer, and nose gear. The student pilot reported no mechanical problems prior to landing. The student pilot reported that executing a go-around would have prevented this accident. According to the student pilot, he was on a cross country flight from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Vero Beach, Florida, to Melbourne, Florida, and back to Daytona Beach. Upon approaching Melbourne, Florida, the student pilot was cleared by the Air Traffic Control Tower to land on runway 4. During landing the airplane bounced several times, ran off the end of the 3000 foot runway and collided with a ditch coming to rest inverted. The pilot reported that executing a go-around would have prevented this accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_ATL02LA068.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…
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