GAA19CA434
2019-06-30 · Stafford, Virginia, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport RMN
Current FAA registration · N748JS
- Make / Model
- SMITH DONALD JOE JR SMITH SPECIAL SKYBOL
- Year of manufacture
- 2017 · 2 years old at event
- Engine
- VEDENEYEV M14P (350 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 2 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 20180425
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S AA111B
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain the runway heading during an aborted go-around, which resulted in a hard landing.
Factual narrative
The biplane pilot reported that, during landing, the airplane touched down right of the centerline and the propeller struck the runway. He added power to go-around, but the airplane drifted right, so he maneuvered the airplane to the grass field to the right of the runway and shut off the engine. He then leveled the airplane, the airplane landed hard, and the main landing gears collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing "I" strut. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, during landing, the biplane touched down right of the centerline, and the propeller struck the runway. He added power to go around, but the biplane drifted right, so he maneuvered it toward a grass field right of the runway and shut off the engine. He then leveled the biplane, and it subsequently landed hard, and the main landing gear collapsed. The biplane sustained substantial damage to the right-wing "I" strut. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the biplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Heading/course-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2019_GAA19CA434.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
- Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗
- AVweb Aviation press ↗
- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
- FlightAware Aviation press ↗
- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
- DuckDuckGo News ↗
Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers
- 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…