ERA12LA549
2012-09-06 · Manville, New Jersey, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport 47N
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the landing and attempted go-around.
Factual narrative
On September 6, 2012, about 1135 eastern daylight time, a Beech 76, N6716L, was substantially damaged following a loss of directional control while landing at Central Jersey Regional Airport (47N), Manville, New Jersey. The private pilot and the pilot-rated passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to N6716 LLC and was operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at Princeton, New Jersey (39N) at 1030. The pilot reported the following. He was acting as pilot-in-command during the approach to runway 25. He occupied the left cockpit seat. Following a normal approach, the airplane touched down and began to drift left. He commenced a go-around about the same time that the passenger called out “full power.” The pilot applied full power, the airplane accelerated, and began to lift off. The airplane then began to turn and roll to the right. As he applied flight control inputs to correct the situation, the airplane rolled to the left and ultimately struck the ground. The passenger reported that, during the approach to runway 25, he had the right cockpit seat positioned aft and he was looking at his iPad. There was no wind or other weather issues at the time. The pilot flew a normal approach; however, he “did not touch down early enough.” The airplane “porpoised” back into the air after departing the left side of the runway. He advised the pilot to go around and the pilot added full power. The airplane gained altitude and pitched hard to the right. The passenger reported that, at no time during the flight, were simulated single engine procedures practiced. A witness on the ramp, who was a flight instructor, reported that the airplane was stabilized on final approach to runway 25 and the propellers were turning. The airplane touched down in the first third of the runway, bounced slightly, and then the pilot added power. When power was added, the airplane banked heavily to the right and reached an altitude of about 20 to 30 feet above the runway. He heard the power come back to idle and then the airplane banked to the left. The left wing then struck a dirt mound off the left side of the taxiway, the airplane struck a fence, and flipped over on its back. While the airplane was airborne, he did not observe any visual indications of an engine failure and the propellers were not feathered. A Federal Aviation Administration inspector responded to the accident site and examined the wreckage. He confirmed substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. He reported that the right engine “did not appear to be operating.” The right mixture control was found in the idle cutoff position. Fuel was found in both wing tanks. The fuel selector valves tested normally in the “on” position. The wreckage was recovered to a storage facility where a subsequent examination of the airframe and engines was performed on March 20, 2013 by a NTSB Air Safety Investigator and a FAA Airworthiness Inspector. Examination of the right engine propeller blades revealed leading edge gouges and the blade tip of one blade was broken off. Further examination of the right engine revealed that compression was noted on all six cylinders and valve train continuity was confirmed when the engine was rotated manually. The right magneto produced spark to all leads except the number one cylinder bottom plug. The top spark plugs were removed and the electrodes exhibited normal wear and color when compared to a Champion Spark Plug inspection chart. The carburetor inlet screen was removed and examined; no contaminants were noted. The carburetor bowl contained fuel and no contaminants were noted. The right engine oil sump screen was removed and examined; no particulates were found. Examination of the left engine propeller blades revealed leading edge gouges, chord-wise surface scratches, and twisting of the blades. Further examination of the left engine revealed that compression was noted on all six cylinders and valve train continuity was confirmed when the engine was rotated manually. The left engine magneto produced spark to all leads when manually rotated. The top spark plugs were removed and the electrodes exhibited normal wear and color when compared to a Champion Spark Plug inspection chart. The carburetor inlet screen was removed and examined; no contaminants were noted. The carburetor bowl contained fuel and no contaminants were noted. The left engine oil sump screen was removed and examined; no particulates were found. The pilot reported that, after a normal approach, the airplane drifted to the left after touchdown and he commenced a go-around. As he began the go-around, the pilot-rated passenger called out for “full power.” The airplane turned and rolled sharply to the right. The pilot corrected with flight control inputs, and the airplane banked to the left; the left wing tip struck a dirt mound located off the left side of the runway. The airplane then collided with a perimeter fence and came to rest inverted. The pilot-rated passenger reported that the airplane departed the left side of the runway during the landing and subsequently “porpoised.” Although preliminary on-site examination of the wreckage indicated that the right engine “did not appear to be operating” and that the right engine mixture control was in the idle cutoff position, a witness, who was a flight instructor, stated that he observed no indications of an engine failure while the airplane was airborne. Subsequent examination of both engines revealed no evidence of a mechanical malfunction or failure, and both propeller assemblies showed evidence of rotation at impact. 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-Lateral/bank 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_ERA12LA549.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (engine failure, go-around). All research papers
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2021 · Accident report Crash of Atlas Air Flight 3591, Boeing 767-300 (N1217A)
Atlas Air 3591 crashed into Trinity Bay, Texas, February 23, 2019. Investigation of the in-flight loss-of-control crash of Atlas Air 3591 into Trinity Bay, Texas.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2018 · Accident report Atlas Air Flight 3591 Boeing 767 Loss of Control (preliminary)
Atlas Air 3591 / Boeing 767-300 / Trinity Bay TX (Feb 23 2019) — preliminary. Preliminary investigation findings; superseded by the AAR-21/01 final report.
- 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…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint Multi-level Adaptation for Automatic Landing with Engine Failure under Turbulent Weather
This paper addresses efficient feasibility evaluation of possible emergency landing sites, online navigation, and path following for automatic landing under engine-out failure subject to turbulent wea…
- 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…