NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR21LA126
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The failure of the pilot to maintain directional control of the airplane during the landing roll which resulted in a runway excursion and subsequent nose over.
Factual narrative
The pilot and pilot rated passenger reported that while landing the tail wheeled-equipped airplane, the pilot was a little “drug in” and a 3-point landing was not attained. The airplane touched down firmly, and then veered slightly back and forth from side to side. Subsequently, as the airplane veered significantly to the right, the pilot was unable to maintain directional control and attempted a go-around. However, shortly thereafter, the left wing dropped and struck the runway, and the go-around was aborted. The airplane then veered off the runway and nosed over, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunction or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot and pilot rated passenger reported that while landing the tail wheeled-equipped airplane, the airplane was low on the approach and a 3-point landing was not attained. The airplane touched down firmly, and then veered slightly back and forth from side to side. Subsequently, as the airplane veered significantly to the right, the pilot was unable to maintain directional control and attempted a go-around. However, shortly thereafter, the left wing dropped and struck the runway, and the go-around was aborted. The airplane then veered off the runway and nosed over, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported no preaccident 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).
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_WPR21LA126.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 (runway excursion, 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.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Runway Excursion — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary runway excursion review — RE-OE (overruns) + RE-LO (lateral). Risk drivers: long landing, high approach speed, contaminated surface, tailwind, mis-set autobrakes.
- 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.
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