CHI99LA170
1999-05-28 · KALAMAZOO, Michigan, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport AZO
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the excessive airspeed, the proper touchdown point not obtained and the aborted landing not performed by the pilot. The fence and automobile were contributing factors.
Factual narrative
On May 28, 1999, at 2010 eastern daylight time. a Cessna T210N, N9612Y, owned and piloted by a private pilot, received substantial damage upon impact with an airport boundary fence and an automobile. The airport boundary fence was located at the departure end of runway 27 (3,350 feet by 150 feet, dry asphalt) at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO), Kalamazoo, Michigan. The aircraft impacted the automobile while it was travelling along a north south road along the departure end of runway 27. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was not operating on a flight plan. The pilot received minor injuries and all four passengers received no injuries. The driver of the automobile was seriously injured. The flight originated from the Oakland/Troy Airport (7D2), Troy, Michigan, at 1910, and was en route to AZO with a final destination of Mackinac Island, Michigan. The pilot stated that he had obtained full fuel from a fixed base operator at 7D2. He described his approach into AZO as being fairly steep with the power pulled back. He reported that he was straight in for Runway 27 at AZO and had selected 10 degrees of flaps as a landing flap setting. The pilot added that he was coming in too fast. He also stated that he touched down at a point 1/2 down the runway and applied the brakes at which point he elected to perform a go-around. He reported that the engine "cut-out" as he went to a full power setting. The pilot further stated that the mixture and propeller controls were fully forward during the go-around attempt. In a written statement, the pilot reported the following, "High approach to runway 27. Touched down approximately half way down the runway. Decision was made to go around. Added full power, mixture rich, propeller takeoff position. Proceeded with forced landing. Impacted fence at departure end of runway 27. Deplaned aircraft". The pilot and emergency personnel reported that there fuel was leaking from the aircraft after the accident. The emergency personnel also reported that there was no fire. A video tape taken of the accident site revealed that there were black marks from the runway numbers of runway 05, across the north south road and towards the main wreckage. The threshold of runway 05 is displaced 315 feet. Twenty sections or an estimated 240 feet of airport's chain link perimeter fence was reported as destroyed. The fence was wrapped around the aircraft's spinner and behind the propeller hub. The throttle, mixture and propeller controls were in the forward position. The trailing edge flaps were in the 10-degree position. The engine was run on the airframe and no anomalies were noted. The Federal Aviation Administration, Cessna Aircraft Company and Textron Lycoming were parties to the investigation. The aircraft overran the departure end of the runway and struck an airport boundary fence and an automobile. In a written statement, the pilot reported the following, 'High approach to runway 27. Touched down approximately half way down the runway. Decision was made to go around. Added full power, mixture rich, propeller takeoff position. Proceeded with forced landing. Impacted fence at departure end of runway 27. Deplaned aircraft.' A video tape taken of the accident site revealed that there were black marks from the runway numbers of runway 05, across the north south road and towards the main wreckage. The threshold of runway 05 is displaced 315 feet. The throttle, mixture and propeller controls were in the forward position. The fence was wrapped around the aircraft's spinner and behind the propeller hub. The trailing edge flaps were in the 10-degree position. The engine was run on the airframe and no anomalies were noted. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1999_CHI99LA170.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…