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Atlas / NTSB / GAA15CA081

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event GAA15CA081

2015-05-20 Winnsboro, South Carolina, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's execution of a steep left turn at low altitude during an aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, and a collision with terrain.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he decided to go around during the landing due to floating and attempted a steep left turn to avoid power lines. The airplane stalled, impacted the ground, and sustained substantial damage to the wings, the fuselage, and the empennage. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that he decided to go around during the landing due to floating and attempted a steep left turn to avoid power lines. The airplane stalled, impacted the ground, and sustained substantial damage to the wings, the fuselage, and the empennage. The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Decision making/judgment-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Not attained/maintained - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2015_GAA15CA081.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗