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Atlas / NTSB / DEN87LA027

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN87LA027

1986-12-02 GREAT FALLS, Montana, United States Airport · GTF None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4784A

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA A152

Year of manufacture

1979 · 7 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-235 SERIES (115 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19790815

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A5E1B7

Registrant of record

FOX AVIATION INTERNATIONAL INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT PLT WAS CLEARED TO MAKE A TOUCH-&-GO LANDING ON RWY 21. AS HE WAS LNDG, HE NOTICED THE ARRESTING BARRIER (CABLE) WAS RAISED. HE ADDED FULL PWR & PULLED BACK ON THE YOKE TO AVOID HITTING THE CABLE. THE ACFT LIFTED OFF, BUT ITS TAIL HIT THE CABLE. AT THAT TIME, THE PLT WAS UNAWARE OF ANY DAMAGE, SO HE CONTINUED FLYING (MADE A GO-AROUND). HE ADVISED TOWER PSNL THAT THE BARRIER CABLE WAS UP & THEY LOWERED THE CABLE. AFTER LANDING, AN INSPN REVEALED THE TAIL TIE-DOWN WAS MISSING & THE REAR BULKHEAD WAS PARTIALLY RIPPED OUT & BENT AGAINST THE RUDDER. ATC HANDBOOK REQUIRED TOWER PERSONNEL TO KEEP THE ARRESTING GEAR IN THE RETRACTED OR DOWN POSITION FOR NORMAL OPERATION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_DEN87LA027.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗