NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA16CA300
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the go-around in gusty crosswind conditions, which resulted in a collision with trees.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that as the airplane entered the landing flare, a crosswind gust "picked up the right wing." He further reported that he applied full power to go-around, and the airplane drifted to the left. Subsequently, the airplane struck trees next to the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage, firewall, and both wings. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The nearest automated weather observing station, which was 18 nautical miles north of the accident airport, about the time of the accident, reported the wind at 320 degrees true at 10 knots gusting to 16 knots. The pilot reported that he landed on a runway with a 240 degrees magnetic heading. The pilot reported that as the airplane entered the landing flare, a crosswind gust "picked up the right wing." He further reported that he applied full power to go-around, and the airplane drifted to the left. Subsequently, the airplane struck trees next to the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage, firewall, and both wings. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The nearest automated weather observing station, which was 18 nautical miles north of the accident airport, about the time of the accident, reported the wind at 320 degrees true at 10 knots gusting to 16 knots. The pilot reported that he landed on a runway with a 240 degrees magnetic heading. 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Ability to respond/compensate
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Ability to respond/compensate
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Tree(s)-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_GAA16CA300.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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