CHI04CA195
2004-07-25 · Omaha, Nebraska, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport 3NO
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to attain a proper touchdown point on the runway during landing. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to perform a go-around, the ditch and the roadway encountered during the overrun.
Factual narrative
On July 25, 2004, at 1710 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-235, N9290W, piloted by a commercial pilot, was substantially damaged when it overran runway 17 (2,480 feet by 40 feet, concrete) during landing at the North Omaha Airport (3NO), Omaha, Nebraska. The personal flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot and three passengers reported no injuries. The flight departed Clinton Municipal Airport (CWI), Clinton, Iowa. In his written statement, the pilot noted that the winds were reported as calm by the automated weather observing system at nearby Millard Airport (MLE), located 11 miles south of 3NO. He reported that he entered left traffic for runway 17 at 3NO, at which time the wind sock indicated no-wind. The pilot noted that construction vehicles in the area required a steeper-than-normal approach angle. He stated that the aircraft was configured with full flaps, however, "final [approach] was flown too fast, [approximately] 90 [miles per hour]." The airplane touched down over halfway down the runway. The pilot reportedly applied full brakes but was unable to stop on the pavement. The aircraft subsequently skidded off the end of the runway, encountering a ditch and a roadway. In his statement, the pilot added that "a go around was not deemed safe after the middle of the runway even though touch down had not occurred because of rising terrain and tall trees off the south end of the [runway]." He also noted that before landing, a non-negotiable go-around point should have been selected. The airplane was substantially damaged when it overran the end of the runway during landing. The pilot reported that there was little or no wind as he approached to land. He noted that construction vehicles in the area required a steeper-than-normal approach angle. The aircraft was configured with full flaps, however, "final [approach] was flown too fast, [approximately] 90 [miles per hour]." The airplane touched down over halfway down the runway. The pilot reportedly applied full brakes but was unable to stop on the pavement. The aircraft subsequently skidded off the end of the runway, encountering a ditch and a roadway. In his statement, the pilot added that "a go around was not deemed safe after the middle of the runway even though touch down had not occurred because of rising terrain and tall trees off the south end of the [runway]." He also noted that before landing, a non-negotiable go-around point should have been selected. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2004_CHI04CA195.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.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
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…