NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR14LA146
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during both the landing and the subsequent attempted go-around.
Factual narrative
On March 21, 2014, about 1550 Pacific daylight time, a Columbia Aircraft MFG LC42-550FG, N112FP, sustained substantial damage during a go-around at the Truckee-Tahoe Airport (TRK), Truckee, California. The airplane was registered to Mouki Aviation LLC and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The private pilot and his pilot rated passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The cross-country flight originated from Palo Alto, California, about 1450, with an intended destination of TRK.In a written statement, the pilot reported that as he neared TRK, he obtained the weather at TRK from the Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS), noting the wind was from 260 degrees at 11 knots, gusting to 19 knots. The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern for runway 29, a 7,000-foot long and 100-foot wide asphalt runway. The pilot stated that he landed normally and about 8 to 10 seconds later, the airplane suddenly veered abruptly to the left towards uneven terrain. The pilot attempted to correct using rudder control, however, felt that the airplane was going to tip to the left and he decided to initiate a go-around. During the attempted go-around, the airplane exited the runway surface, bounced, and struck terrain between runway 29 and taxiway alpha. Subsequently, the airplane came to rest nose low. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the fuselage was structurally damaged. No evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunction that would preclude normal operation was found. The pilot reported that, before landing, he obtained the current weather for the destination airport, which indicated that wind was from 260 degrees at 11 knots gusting to 19 knots. The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern for runway 29 and conducted an uneventful landing. Shortly after, the airplane suddenly veered left. The pilot attempted to regain directional control by applying rudder; however, he felt that the airplane was going to tip left, so he decided to initiate a go-around. During the attempted go-around, the airplane exited the runway surface, bounced, and struck terrain adjacent to the runway. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures 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).
- 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_2014_WPR14LA146.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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