CEN12CA093
2011-11-28 · Fort Collins, Colorado, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport KFNL
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's improper landing flare.
Factual narrative
While on final, the airplane was not losing altitude as expected so the pilot elected to perform a go-around. During the landing for the second approach, the pilot flared and the airplane touched down and immediately made a loud noise. The airplane pitched down and skidded off of the runway. The nose landing gear collapsed and one blade of the propeller separated. Further examination revealed that the composite structure of the fuselage was wrinkled. The Federal Aviation Administration examined the wreckage and found no mechanical anomalies or failures that would have occurred prior to the accident. While on final approach, the airplane was not descending as expected, so the pilot elected to perform a go-around. During the landing for the second approach, the pilot flared, and the airplane touched down and immediately made a loud noise. The airplane pitched down and skidded off the runway. The nose landing gear collapsed, one of the propeller blades separated, and the composite structure of the fuselage was wrinkled. Postaccident examination found no mechanical anomalies or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Incorrect use/operation - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2011_CEN12CA093.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.
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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…