MIA02LA158
2002-08-25 · Tarboro, North Carolina, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport ETC
Current FAA registration · N2291E
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 172N
- Year of manufacture
- 1978 · 24 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19780817
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A204F0
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The failure of the solo student to maintain directional control of the airplane during the takeoff roll/run which resulted in the airplane veering off the runway and impacting trees, incurring substantial damage.
Factual narrative
On August 25, 2002, about 1005, eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N2291E, registered to Aviation Consultants and Sales Inc., and operated by Wayne Aviation, as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, veered off the runway during takeoff at Tarboro, North Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The student-rated pilot was not injured, and the airplane incurred substantial damage. The flight originated from Greensboro, North Carolina, the same day, about 0925. The student stated that he was performing a short cross-country training flight, and during his approach to land he felt that he was a little too high, so he elected to perform a go-around. He said he then made two subsequent approaches to land and performed go-arounds each time because he felt that he was too high, and on his final attempt he was lower, and landed the airplane about 1/3 of the distance down the runway from the approach end. He said that during the landing rollout he then turned the carburetor heat off, but forgot to raise the flaps, and after applying full power to take off, the airplane veered sharply to the left, exiting the runway on to the grass. He said he attempted to use rudder control input to guide the airplane back on to the runway, but it responded slowly, and the airplane impacted some small trees, entered a small ditch, and flipped over incurring damage to the wings. Prior to the accident, there had been no mechanical failure or malfunction to the airplane or any of its systems. The student stated that he was performing a short cross-country flight, and during his approach to land he felt that he was a little too high, so he elected to perform a go-around. He said he then made two subsequent approaches to land and performed go-arounds each time because he felt that he was too high, and on his final attempt he was lower, and landed the airplane about 1/3 of the distance down the runway from the approach end. He said that during the landing rollout he then turned the carburetor heat off, but forgot to raise the flaps, and after applying full power to take off, the airplane veered sharply to the left, exiting the runway and subsequently impacted trees incurring damage. Prior to the accident, there had been no mechanical failure or malfunction to the airplane or any of its systems. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_MIA02LA158.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…