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Atlas / NTSB / LAX03LA155

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX03LA155

2003-05-18 Hayward, California, United States Airport · HWD None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

the pilot's inadequate recovery from a bounced landing and his failure to maintain directional control, resulting in a ground loop.

Factual narrative

On May 18, 2003, about 1255 Pacific daylight time, an experimental owner built Monaghan Glasair, N271RP, ground looped while landing at Hayward Executive Airport (HWD), Hayward, California. The builder/owner/pilot was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The private pilot and one pilot rated passenger were not injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The personal cross-country flight departed Halfmoon Bay, California, about 1230 en route to Hayward, California. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The primary wreckage was at 37 degrees 39.56 minutes north latitude and 122 degrees 07.35 minutes west longitude. The pilot stated that he had tried to land at HWD on runway 28L but had executed a go-around. On his second approach to runway 28L, the airplane bounced, he lost directional control, and the airplane departed the runway to the left. He reported that just as the airplane bounced into the air, a gust of wind made the airplane weather vane to the left. Before he could correct, the airplane touched down and ground looped. The airplane departed the runway and came to rest in the grass area between runways 28R and 28L. The weather observation at HWD was reported at 1254 PDT as wind from 280 degrees at 10 knots. The airplane ground looped on landing. The pilot said the airplane bounced, he lost directional control, and the airplane departed the runway to the left. Just as the airplane bounced into the air, a gust of wind made the airplane weather vane to the left. Before the pilot could correct, the airplane touched down and ground looped off the runway. The pilot reported there were no discrepancies with the airplane prior to the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2003_LAX03LA155.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗