Event GAA19CA102

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was flying a recently purchased airplane. During initial climb, the front right-side cockpit door opened. He decided that the condition was unsafe and entered a left downwind to land. The approach end of the runway had rising terrain, and the airplane was too high and too fast. About 200ft AGL he decided to abort the landing, but the engine sputtered. Still too fast, the airplane landed about 1,500ft down the 5,132ft runway, and he immediately applied the brakes. However, the airplane overran the runway and collided with a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and the elevator. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that he was flying a recently purchased airplane. During initial climb, the front right cockpit door opened. He decided that the condition was unsafe and entered a left downwind to land. The approach end of the runway had rising terrain, and the airplane was too high and fast. About 200 ft above ground level, he decided to abort the landing, but the engine sputtered, and he continued the landing. The airplane overran the runway and collided with a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and the elevator. The pilot reported that there were no 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
• — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Fence/fence post-Contributed to outcome