NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA15CA042
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The student pilot's failure to compensate for gusting wind conditions during the flare, and the flight instructor's failure to intervene in a timely manner, resulting in a loss of airplane control and hard landing off of the runway.
Factual narrative
According to the student pilot, he was performing a full stop landing from the left seat with his instructor in the right seat. During the flare, a sudden gust of wind "pushed the airplane to the left" and the instructor took the controls. The instructor pilot also reported that a sudden, heavy gust of wind was encountered, and the airplane "started ballooning up" and turned "drastically" to the left. The instructor attempted a go-around; however, the airplane was already at low altitude and it collided with the ground. The airplane impacted hard on the grassy area adjacent to the runway, breaking off the nose gear. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors reported that substantial damage resulted to the airframe's left and right wings. The instructor pilot reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane at the time of the accident. Although there was no weather reporting capability at the landing airport, gusting wind conditions were reported about 18 miles to the northwest. According to the student pilot, he was performing a full stop landing from the left seat with his instructor in the right seat. During the flare, a sudden gust of wind "pushed the airplane to the left" and the instructor took the controls. The instructor pilot also reported that a sudden, heavy gust of wind was encountered, and the airplane "started ballooning up" and turned "drastically" to the left. The instructor attempted a go-around; however, the airplane was already at low altitude and it collided with the ground. The airplane impacted hard on the grassy area adjacent to the runway, breaking off the nose gear. Federal Aviation Administration inspectors reported that substantial damage resulted to the airframe's left and right wings. The instructor pilot reported that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane at the time of the accident. Although there was no weather reporting capability at the landing airport, gusting wind conditions were reported about 18 miles to the northwest. 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-Landing flare-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
- C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2014_ERA15CA042.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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