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ERA12CA270

2012-04-05 · Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PTW

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a loss of control.

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, the landing approach was normal. However, during the landing touchdown the airplane bounced and the pilot decided to perform a go-around. He applied full power and inadvertently raised the flaps from 30 degrees to zero degrees. As the pilot increased the pitch of the airplane to perform the go around, the airplane drifted off the left side of the runway and settled into a grassy area to the left of the runway. The airplane collided with a tree which resulted in substantial damage to the wings and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to the pilot, the landing approach was normal. However, during touchdown, the airplane bounced, and the pilot decided to perform a go-around. He applied full power and inadvertently raised the flaps from 30 degrees to zero degrees. As the pilot increased the pitch of the airplane to perform the go-around, the airplane drifted off the left side of the runway and settled into a grassy area. The airplane collided with a tree and sustained substantial damage to the wings and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_ERA12CA270.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 (loss of control, go-around). All research papers