NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ATL93LA138
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INADVERTENT STALL/SPIN.
Factual narrative
On August 1, 1993, at 1615 eastern daylight time, a Molino OY PIK-20, N3WX was substantially damaged following a collision with terrain during an attempted go around at Swan Creek Airport near Jonesville, North Carolina. The glider-only rated private pilot was not injured in the accident. The aircraft was being operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed for the local, personal flight. The pilot reported that he was high on his final approach for landing and attempted a go-around. He stated that when he retracted the landing gear and flaps, the aircraft stalled and spiraled into the terrain about 1/4 mile from the runway. The glider impacted on its left wing tip in a nose-low attitude and came to rest inverted in a cornfield. THE PILOT, UPON REALIZING THAT HE HAD SET UP TOO HIGH ON FINAL APPROACH, RETRACTED LANDING GEAR AND FLAPS AND ATTEMPTED A GO- AROUND. THE GLIDER STALLED AND BEGAN TO SPIN. THE GLIDER CRASHED IN A NOSE LOW, LEFT WING LOW ATTITUDE AND THEN ROLLED ONTO ITS BACK IN A CORNFIELD APPROXIMATELY 1/4 MILE SOUTH OF THE LANDING STRIP. IT WAS REPORTED IN THE PILOT/ OPERATOR REPORT THAT THERE WAS NO STALL WARNING SYSTEM INSTALLED IN THE AIRPLANE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_ATL93LA138.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 (stall, 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 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- 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…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
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