NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA98LA238
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The failure of the flight instructor and dual student to ensure the landing gear was extended for landing and their attempted go-around after the aircraft and propellers contacted the runway. This resulted in loss of directional control during the go-around due to propeller damage and subsequent impact with the ground.
Factual narrative
On September 5, 1998, about 1357 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-34-200, N40805, registered to Florida Aviation Career Training, Inc., crashed during a go-around at St. Augustine Airport, St. Augustine, Florida, while on a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft received substantial damage and the airline transport-rated flight instructor and dual student were not injured. The flight originated from St. Augustine, the same day, about 1250. The instructor stated that during the landing flare they initiated a go-around due to uncertainty as to the position of the landing gear. The aircraft initially climbed and then rolled to the left and descended. The aircraft struck the ground left wing tip first followed by the nose and then came to rest. Examination of runway 13 by an FAA inspector showed a series of perpendicular slash marks on the left side of the runway center line starting at 1,200 feet from the approach end threshold and again at 1,750 feet. At 2,200 feet, slash marks appear on both sides of the runway center line. At 3,200 feet, slash marks appear on the left side of the center line. Examination of the aircraft by an FAA inspector after the accident showed the landing gear handle was in the landing gear retracted position. The left propeller was curled over on itself about two-thirds of the blade length. The right hand propeller was curled over on itself about one-third of the blade length. The flight instructor stated they performed a go-around because they did not know if the landing gear was extended. The aircraft climbed initially, rolled to the left and descended, striking the ground left wing tip and nose first. Examination of the runway showed slash marks caused by the propellers of the aircraft. Examination of the aircraft showed the landing gear handle was in the up position and the left propeller was curled over about two thirds of the blade length. The right propeller was curled over about one third of the blade length. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1998_MIA98LA238.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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