Skip to content

BFO89LA041

1989-06-04 · DOVER AFB, Delaware, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DOV

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER FLARE, IMPROPER RECOVERY FROM A BOUNCED LANDING, AND HIS DELAY IN INITIATING A GO-AROUND, WHICH RESULTED IN AN UNCONTROLLED PORPOISE, LOSS OF DIRECTIONAL CONTROL, AND AN UNCONTROLLED GROUND SWERVE. HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE, A CROSSWIND, AND THE DITCH WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT PLT WAS LANDING ON RWY 19 WITH A RPRTD WIND FROM 290 DEG AT 13 KTS. HE RPRTD THAT THE APCH WAS NORMAL UNTIL THE ACFT WAS AT ABOUT 15 FT AGL, THEN IT ABRUPTLY DESCENDED & CONTACTED THE RWY. IT BOUNCED 2 OR 3 TIMES & THE STUDENT ELECTED TO GO AROUND. POWER WAS APPLIED; HOWEVER, THE ACFT SETTLED ONTO THE RWY & TRAVELED OFF THE LEFT SIDE INTO A GRASS AREA. BEFORE THE STUDENT COULD STOP THE ACFT, IT CONTACTED A DITCH & NOSED OVER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_BFO89LA041.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers