NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA94LA135
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED AND PROPER GLIDEPATH RESULTING IN THE IN-FLIGHT COLLISION WITH TREES SHORT OF THE AIRPORT PROPERTY.
Factual narrative
On May 9, 1994, about 2032 eastern daylight time, a Beech A35, N620B, registered to James Epperson, collided with trees while returning to land shortly after takeoff from the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, St. Petersburg, Florida, while on a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was substantially damaged and the private-rated pilot and one passenger were not injured. The flight originated about 2015. After takeoff the ATC controller advised the pilot that the nose landing gear was not retracted. The pilot cycled the landing gear but the nose landing gear was partially extended. The pilot flew past the tower and the controller advised him that the nose landing gear was partially extended. The pilot requested a landing clearance which was granted and performed a go-around while on final approach. While on final approach again the pilot stated that he applied full throttle too late. The airplane collided with trees about 15 feet outside of the airport perimeter fence. AFTER TAKEOFF THE TOWER CONTROLLER ADVISED THE PILOT THAT THE NOSE LANDING GEAR WAS EXTENDED. THE PILOT CYCLED THE LANDING GEAR BUT THE NOSE LANDING GEAR REMAINED PARTIALLY EXTENDED. THE FLIGHT RETURNED FOR LANDING AND WHILE ON FINAL APPROACH, THE PILOT PERFORMED A GO-AROUND. DURING THE SECOND APPROACH THE AIRSPEED GOT SLOW AND THE PILOT 'ATTEMPTED TO APPLY FULL POWER BUT IT WAS TOO LATE' AND THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_MIA94LA135.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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.
- 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…
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