Event GAA17CA055

Factual narrative

According to the pilot, after multiple previous landings that night to runway 34L, he reported that the airplane was thrown "off course" after it encountered a crosswind. The pilot pulled the power off briefly during the landing and the airplane touched down. However, he reported that he made a late decision to go-around and reapplied the power in hopes of establishing a climb. The airplane was "off course" at a low airspeed, and he applied full power; but he panicked and reduced his right rudder application and the airplane veered to the left. The airplane stalled and impacted the ground, the nose landing gear became imbedded in the mud and the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing root, and empennage. According to the airport security camera video, the airplane descended over runway 34L, and made an immediate sharp left turn 270° to the left of the runway heading, and rapidly ascended. After the sharp left turn, the airplane was airborne for about 534 ft. before impacting the ground and nosing over. White paint transfer markings observed on the runway surface, and damage to the airplane's left wing indicated that the airplane had impacted the runway surface during the accident sequence. About 25 minutes prior to the accident, the published METAR for the accident airport reported that the wind was out of 320° true at 6 knots. There were no reported wind gusts at the time of the accident, and there were no published wind gusts at the airport for the remainder of the day. The pilot reported that he has 99 hours of total flight time, 78 hours in the accident airplane make and model, and a total of 4 hours of flight time within the last 90 days prior to the accident. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. According to the pilot, after multiple previous landings that night to runway 34L, the airplane was thrown "off course" after it encountered a crosswind. The pilot pulled the power off briefly during the landing, and the airplane touched down. However, he reported that he made a late decision to go around and reapplied the power to establish a climb. He added that the airplane was "off course" at a low airspeed and that he applied full power, but he panicked and reduced his right rudder application, and the airplane veered to the left. The airplane stalled and impacted the ground, the nose landing gear became embedded in the mud, and the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing root and empennage. According to the airport security camera video, the airplane descended over runway 34L and made an immediate sharp left 270° turn to the left of the runway heading and rapidly ascended. After the sharp left turn, the airplane was airborne for about 534 ft before impacting the ground and nosing over. White paint transfer markings observed on the runway surface and damage to the airplane's left wing indicated that the airplane had impacted the runway surface during the accident sequence. About 25 minutes before the accident, the published METAR for the accident airport reported that the wind was from 320° at 6 knots. There were no reported wind gusts at the time of the accident, and there were no published wind gusts at the airport for the remainder of the day. The pilot reported that he had 99 hours of total flight time, 78 hours of which were in the accident airplane make and model, and 4 hours of which were within the 90 days before the accident. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane 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 Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Dark-Effect on personnel - C
• C Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Pilot - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
• F Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Recent experience-Pilot - F