LAX03LA155
2003-05-18 · Hayward, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport HWD
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 ↗.
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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…