NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA11CA453
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to obtain the proper touchdown point during landing, which resulted in a runway excursion.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he was using a global positioning system receiver to navigate a cross-country flight. The pilot's intended destination was an airport with a single 5,751-foot-long runway; however, he erroneously flew to an airport with a single 2,400-foot-long runway. Additionally, trees were located on both ends of the shorter runway. The pilot further stated that in an attempt to clear trees near the runway threshold, he touched down too close to the departure end of the runway. The pilot did not want to attempt a go-around due to the trees at the end of the runway. The pilot attempted to stop the airplane, but it traveled off the end of the runway and into a ditch. During the impact, the right main landing gear collapsed and the right wing separated. The pilot added that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. The wind was reported as calm at an airport located approximately 20 miles south of the accident site, about the time of the accident. The pilot stated that he was using a global positioning system receiver to navigate a cross-country flight. The pilot's intended destination was an airport with a single 5,751-foot-long runway; however, he erroneously flew to a different airport with a single 2,400-foot-long runway with trees at both ends of the runway. In an attempt to clear trees near the runway threshold, the pilot touched down too close to the departure end of the runway. He did not want to attempt a go-around due to the trees at the end of the runway; thus he attempted to stop the airplane, but it traveled off the end of the runway and into a ditch. During the impact, the right main landing gear collapsed and the right wing separated. The pilot added that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action performance-Pilot - C
- F Personnel issues-Task performance-Planning/preparation-Flight planning/navigation-Pilot - F
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2011_ERA11CA453.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 (runway excursion, 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.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- 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.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗