NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA96LA077
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
Failure of the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft after initiating a go-around, which resulted in the right wing contacting the ground. The unfavorable wind condition was a related factor.
Factual narrative
On February 9, 1996, about 1130 eastern standard time, a Piper J-3, N6666H, registered to Browns Seaplane Base Inc., crashed while landing at the Winter Haven Municipal Airport, Winter Haven, Florida, while on a 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The commercial-rated pilot was not injured and the airplane was substantially damaged. The flight originated from Winter Haven, the same day, about 1100. The pilot stated that he planned to make a wheel landing. The aircraft touched down at a slow airspeed and he initiated a go-around. The aircraft's right wing dipped and contacted the ground. The aircraft turned to the right, 270 degrees from runway heading, and came to rest off the right side of the runway. The pilot reported that he landed on runway 22 with a quartering left crosswind at 15 gusting 20 knots. He elected to go around after touching down. However, during the go-around, the aircraft banked to the right, and the right wing contacted the ground. The aircraft then yawed to the right and came to rest off the right side of the runway. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1996_MIA96LA077.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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