NTSB ERA25LA085 — 2024-12-25 · Loganville, Georgia, United States

Current FAA registration · N6665K

Make / Model: AERONCA 15AC
Year of manufacture: 1950 · 74 years old at event
Engine: CONT MOTOR C145 SERIES (145 hp)
Seats / Engines: 4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 19880608
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A8CD94

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N6665K Aeronca 15AC Serious

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance of trees during an attempted go-around in sun glare.

Factual narrative

The airline transport pilot was attempting to land when he lost his reference to the runway due to sun glare and attempted to go around. The airplane impacted trees, which resulted in both wings separating from the airplane. The pilot said there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures that contributed to the accident and that the accident could have been prevented if he had tried to go around sooner. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Glare-Effect on personnel
— Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot
— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Altitude-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2024_ERA25LA085.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.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers