NTSB CAROL · Event
Event GAA17CA116
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain an appropriate descent rate during approach, which resulted in landing short of the runway threshold.
Factual narrative
The pilot of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that during the final approach, the airplane was too low, which he failed to notice and correct. Subsequently, the airplane landed short of the runway threshold in about 3 feet of snow and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left lift strut, firewall, and empennage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during the final approach, the airplane was too low, which he failed to notice and correct. Subsequently, the airplane landed short of the runway threshold in about 3 ft of snow and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left lift strut, firewall, and empennage. The pilot reported 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-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Terrain-Snowy/icy terrain-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2017_GAA17CA116.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. 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 2019 · Abstract
Wetting Angle and Surface Tension of Germanium Melts on Different Substrate Materials
The sessile drop technique has been used to measure the wetting angle and the surface tension of molten germanium (Ge) on various substrate materials.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
Determination of the Wetting Angle of Germanium and Germanium-Silicon Melts on Different Substrate Materials
During Bridgman growth of semiconductors detachment of the crystal and the melt meniscus has occasionally been observed, mainly under microgravity (microg) conditions.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Abstract
Contact Angles and Surface Tension of Germanium-Silicon Melts
Precise knowledge of material parameters is more and more important for improving crystal growth processes. Two important parameters are the contact (wetting) angle and the surface tension, determinin…
- arXiv 2019 · arXiv preprint
Heat and water vapor transfer in the wake of a falling ice sphere and its implication for secondary ice formation in clouds
We perform direct numerical simulations of the settling of an ice sphere in an ambient fluid accounting for heat and mass transfer with the aim of studying in a meteorological context the case of fall…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗