LAX94LA253
1994-06-12 · KINGMAN, Arizona, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport IGM
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's inadvertent raising the flaps during a go-around attempt. A factor in the accident was the gusty crosswind condition.
Factual narrative
On June 12, 1994, at 1530 hours mountain standard time (MST), a homebuilt experimental Schumacher Swearingen SX-300, N2H, lost control and collided with the runway surface at the Kingman, Arizona, airport. The airplane was being operated as a personal flight by the pilot/owner. The airplane was substantially damaged. The certificated private pilot and passenger were not injured. The flight originated in Salt Lake City, Utah, at 1425 hours MST. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The pilot indicated he was monitoring the Kingman Airport UNICOM about 30 to 40 miles away from the airport. The pilot heard the pilot of a preceding Mooney airplane go-around on approach to runway 21 and land on runway 17. The pilot planned his approach to runway 17. On short final approach, the pilot decided the winds favored landing on runway 21, and attempted a go-around. The pilot added power and raised the flaps. The airplane settled and collided with the runway. In his statement, the pilot said that he inadvertently raised the flaps resulting in the airplane's loss of lift and subsequent settling on the runway. The pilot also indicated that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane before the accident. The automated weather station at the Kingman Airport was reporting winds from 190 degrees at 16 knots with peak gusts 29 knots at the time of the accident. THE PILOT WAS MONITORING THE UNICOM FREQUENCY ABOUT 30 TO 40 MILES AWAY FROM THE AIRPORT AND PLANNED HIS APPROACH TO THE RUNWAY USED BY PRECEDING TRAFFIC. ON SHORT FINAL, THE PILOT REALIZED THE WINDS FAVORED A DIFFERENT RUNWAY AND ATTEMPTED A GO-AROUND. THE PILOT ADDED POWER AND INADVERTENTLY RAISED THE FLAPS. THE AIRPLANE SETTLED AND COLLIDED WITH THE RUNWAY. THE WIND VELOCITY WAS REPORTED AT 16 KNOTS WITH PEAK GUSTS 29 KNOTS AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_LAX94LA253.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…