NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR12CA121
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot did not maintain runway alignment during landing in a gusting crosswind.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that as the automated weather reporting facility was inoperable prior to landing, he overflew the airport and determined from the windsock that runway 24 was favored. The pilot stated that about the time he touched down he encountered a strong wind gust, which prompted him to initiate a go-around. The pilot added that as he applied power the airplane drifted to the left and that his attempts to correct back to the right were unsuccessful. The airplane subsequently collided with a stationary airplane, an automobile and a hangar. The airplane came to rest in an upright position and had sustained substantial damage to both wings and its fuselage. A review of the Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) data for the airport revealed that from about 34 minutes prior to, to about 26 minutes after the accident, wind gusts were reported to be from 040 degrees at 24 knots and 25 knots respectively. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, because the automated airport weather station report was unavailable prior to landing, he overflew the airport and determined from the windsock that runway 24 was favored. About the time the airplane touched down, it encountered a strong wind gust, which prompted the pilot to initiate a go-around. As he applied power, the airplane drifted to the left, and his attempts to correct back to the right were unsuccessful. The airplane subsequently collided with a stationary airplane, an automobile, and a hangar, which resulted in substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. A review of the reported weather data for the airport revealed that, around the time of the accident, wind gusts of about 25 knots from 040 degrees were recorded. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Contributed to outcome
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Contributed to outcome
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_WPR12CA121.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…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗