ATL94LA174
1994-09-21 · LINDEN, Tennessee, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport M15
N5525P has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA T240, built 2014), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE RUDDER WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF DIRECTIONAL CONTROL.
Factual narrative
On September 21, 1994, about 1530 central daylight time, a Cessna 152, N5525P, overran the runway and nosed over during landing at the Perry County Airport, Linden, Tennessee. The airplane was operated by Middle Tennessee State University under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, and visual flight rules (VFR). Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. A VFR flight plan was filed for the solo, instructional, cross-country flight. The private pilot was not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. Origination of the flight was Murfreesboro, Tennessee, about 1435, on the same day. According to the pilot's report, he was conducting a touch and go landing. After touch down, the flaps were raised and full power was added. The engine hesitated, then developed power normally. As the speed of the airplane increased, it began to veer left. Right rudder was applied with no effect. As the airplane continued to turn left the pilot "cut off" power. The airplane then veered off of the runway's left side, traveled down an embankment, hit trees, and nosed over. A mechanic for the operator stated that there was evidence of side loads on the right main tire. The airplane was examined later, revealing that there was continuity of the flight controls. The spark plugs looked new and the magneto leads all sparked. There was continuity of the engine, cylinder compression, and fuel was present up to the carburetor. The engine controls operated normally. The air filter was clean and the gaskets were in place. THE PRIVATE PILOT WAS CONDUCTING A TOUCH AND GO LANDING. AFTER TOUCH DOWN, THE FLAPS WERE RETRACTED AND POWER WAS ADDED FOR THE GO-AROUND. THE ENGINE HESITATED, THEN PROVIDED NORMAL POWER. AS THE SPEED OF THE AIRPLANE INCREASED, IT BEGAN VEERING LEFT. RIGHT RUDDER WAS APPLIED WITHOUT RESULT. THE PILOT THEN CUT THE POWER AS THE AIRPLANE OVERRAN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY, CONTINUED DOWN AN EMBANKMENT, STRUCK TREES, AND NOSED OVER. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED NO ANOMALIES WITH THE ENGINE AND CONTINUITY OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF SIDE LOADING ON THE OUTBOARD SIDE OF THE RIGHT MAIN TIRE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_ATL94LA174.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers
- 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…