CHI05CA151
2005-06-17 · Wheeling, Illinois, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport PWK
N92RK has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BEECH C90A, built 1996), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions, and his failure to maintain obstacle clearance, which resulted in the airplane drifting during the landing flare and impacting the taxiway light.
Factual narrative
On June 17, 2005, at 1330 central daylight time, an amateur-built Kirby Christen Eagle, N92RK, sustained substantial damage when it impacted a taxiway light during a go-around from runway 06 (3,660 feet by 50 feet, dry asphalt) at the Palwaukee Municipal Airport (PWK), Wheeling, Illinois. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot and his passenger were not injured. The flight departed Morris Municipal Airport (C09), Morris, Illinois, at 1300. The pilot reported that during the landing flare the airplane "caught gust of wind [and] we were moved to the right." The pilot stated that he noticed the airplane was not on the runway centerline and "decided to make a go-around, but little too late and caught a landing light." The pilot continued the go-around and made an uneventful landing. Post-accident inspection of the airplane showed substantial damage to the leading edge of the lower-right wing. The damage was consistent with the lower-right wing striking a taxiway light. Fractured portions of a taxiway light were found adjacent to the runway during a post-accident examination. Wind information was collected from the weather observing station located at PWK. The wind data recorded at 1353 indicated the wind was 050 degrees magnetic at 10 knots. No wind gusts were reported during the hour before and after the accident. The airplane impacted a taxiway light during a go-around. The pilot reported that during the landing flare the airplane "caught gust of wind [and] we were moved to the right." The pilot stated that he noticed the airplane was not on the runway centerline and "decided to make a go-around, but little too late and caught a landing light." The pilot continued the go-around and made an uneventful landing. Wind data recorded at 1353 indicated the wind was 050 degrees magnetic at 10 knots. No wind gusts were reported during the hour before and after the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2005_CHI05CA151.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…