NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DEN91LA021
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
IMPROPER FLARE BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN A HARD LANDING. A REALTED FACTOR WAS: LOW LIGHT CONDITION AT DUSK.
Factual narrative
THE PRIVATE PILOT WAS FLYING TWO PASSENGERS ON A ROUND TRIP CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, HE HAD THE BRAKES REPAIRED AT EL PASO, TEXAS, AND WAS DISTRACTED BY WORRY OVER THE BRAKES ABILITY TO STOP ON THE DOWN HILL RUNWAY. HE REPORTED THAT HE MADE A NORMAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 27, AND FLARED HIGH BECAUSE OF THE DARKNESS, RESULTING IN A HARD LANDING. THE PLANE BOUNCED BACK INTO THE AIR, THE PILOT ADDED POWER AND MADE A GO-AROUND. HE SAID THE ENGINE VIBRATED BADLY, AND HE ASSUMED THE PROPELLER STRUCK THE RUNWAY, EITHER DURING THE HARD LANDING OR AS HE ADDED POWER. ON THE SECOND APPROACH, AT TOUCHDOWN, THE NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED, THE PLANE DEPARTED THE RUNWAY, SHEARED THE MAIN GEAR AND CAME TO REST NOSE DOWN. THE RIGHT WING WAS BENT BACK, BOTH WING SPARS, THE FUSELAGE AND TAIL SECTION WERE DAMAGED. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE MAIN LANDING GEAR LEGS WERE OVER STRESSED AND THE LOWER FUSELAGE WAS CRUSHED INWARD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_DEN91LA021.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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.
- 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…
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