NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ATL89FA071
Registry · N9330B
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 175
Year of manufacture
1959 · 30 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING O&VO-360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19980504
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ACF328
Registrant of record
CARPENTER MICHAEL R
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER IFR PROCEDURE BY THE PILOT AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN THE MINIMUM DESCENT ALTITUDE (MDA). CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE: LOW CEILING, FOG, DELAYED MISSED APPROACH BY THE PILOT, AND TREES.
Factual narrative
AS THE PLT WAS EN ROUTE TO GREENSBORO (HIS DESTN), HE FLEW PAST SHILOH & NOTED THAT WX AT THE ARPT WAS CLEAR, BUT FROM ABOUT 10 SOUTH OF SHILOH, GROUND FOG EXTENDED TO THE SOUTH. AT 0634 EST, HE CONTACTED GREENSBORO TOWER & WAS ADZD THE RVR WAS 1600 FT. HIS MIMIMUMS WERE 1800 FT. HE HELD FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, BUT THE WX CONTD TO DETERIORATE, SO HE DIVERTED TO THE ROCKINGHAM COUNTY/SHILOH ARPT, WHERE NO WX RPRTG FACILITIES WERE AVAILABLE. AFTER BEING VECTORED OVER THE ALTERNATE ARPT, HE WAS UNABLE TO GET ENOUGH VISUAL CUES FOR A VISUAL APCH, SO HE ELECTED TO MAKE AN SDF APCH. THE PLT STATED THAT WHEN HE REACHED THE MIN DSCNT ALT (MDA), HE SAW THE RWY & PROCEEDED TO MAKE A VISUAL APCH. AS HE CONTD, PATCHY FOG BEGAN TO OBSCURE THE RWY, SO HE MANEUVERED THE ACFT TO KEEP IT IN SITE, THEN ELECTED TO GO AROUND. HOWEVER, AS HE BEGAN THE GO-AROUND, THE ACFT HIT TREES & CRASHED. ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS APRX 700 FT. MDA FOR THE APCH WAS 1120 FT MSL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1989_ATL89FA071.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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