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GAA18CA021

2017-10-01 · Block Island, Rhode Island, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BID

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's use of an incorrect airspeed during landing, which resulted in a runway overrun.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during landing, the airplane touched down about "150 ft. beyond [the runway] numbers" and he immediately "removed flaps and applied brakes." He added that he was "unable to stop the forward momentum of the plane," and he believed he was going to overrun the runway, so he applied full power to go-around. Subsequently, the airplane overran the runway before a climb rate could be established, and during the runway excursion, the airplane struck a chain link fence. During the impact, the right wing separated from the fuselage, and the airplane rolled inverted down a ravine before coming to a stop back on the main landing gear. The pilot further reported after the accident that he believed he came in "too fast" for landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to fuselage, empennage, and both wings. The pilot did not report that there were any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, during landing, the airplane touched down about "150 ft. beyond [the runway] numbers" and he immediately "removed flaps and applied brakes." He added that he was "unable to stop the forward momentum of the plane," and he believed he was going to overrun the runway, so he applied full power to go-around. Subsequently, the airplane overran the runway before a climb rate could be established, and during the runway excursion, the airplane struck a chain link fence. During the impact, the right wing separated from the fuselage, and the airplane rolled inverted down a ravine before coming to a stop on the main landing gear. The pilot further reported that, after the accident, he believed he came in "too fast" for landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, and both wings. 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

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Incorrect use/operation - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Aircraft capability-Landing distance-Not attained/maintained - C
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Fence/fence post-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_GAA18CA021.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

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