IAD04CA004
2003-12-09 · E. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport N53
Current FAA registration · N7202R
- Make / Model
- BEECH 95-B55 (T42A)
- Year of manufacture
- 1975 · 28 years old at event
- Engine
- CONT MOTOR I0-470 SERIES (260 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 6 seats · 2 engines
- Last airworthiness date
- 19741101
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A9A63A
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's improper flare, which resulted in a hard landing and collapse of the nose landing gear.
Factual narrative
On December 9, 2003, about 1245 eastern standard time, a Beech BE-55, N7202R, was substantially damaged while landing at Stroudsburg-Pocono Airport (N53), East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The certificated commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and the airplane was not operating on a flight plan. The personal flight, which originated at Sullivan County International Airport (MSV), Monticello, New York, was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to the pilot, the airplane ballooned during the landing flare. The pilot then applied a nose down correction and subsequently landed hard on the nose landing gear. The nose gear collapsed, and the airplane skidded to a stop. When asked what could have been done to prevent the accident, the pilot stated that he should have performed a go-around. The weather reported at Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport (MPO) Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, 12 nautical miles to the northwest, at 1153, included variable winds at 3 knots, 10 miles visibility, an overcast ceiling at 8,500 feet, temperature 28 degrees Fahrenheit, dew point 19 degrees Fahrenheit, and a barometric pressure of 30.16 inches of mercury. The airplane ballooned during the landing flare. The pilot then applied a nose down correction and subsequently landed hard on the nose gear. The nose gear collapsed and the airplane skidded to a stop. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2003_IAD04CA004.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
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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…