- Date
- April 10, 2025, 16:08 local (20:08 UTC)
- Place
- Folkston, GA · Off to side of runway
- Injuries
- 2 serious, 1 minor, 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N179STPiper PA46R-350T
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR go-around: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 19, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- Piper Aircraft, FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250410019589A
- Case key
- 199992
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during a go-around.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
At the conclusion of the instrument flight rules flight, the pilot approached the 2,500-ft-long by 50-ft-wide runway at the destination airport. The pilot was unable to recall any of the events that transpired after the landing flare, but the front seat passenger described that the airplane’s nose pitched up as the airplane descended below the tops of the trees that surrounded the airport. The pilot then initiated a go-around, but the airplane did not climb as expected and drifted left towards the trees. The left wing then dropped before the airplane struck the ground, resulting in a postimpact fire. The fuselage and left wing were substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot reported, and a postaccident examination of the wreckage confirmed, that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N179ST
- Reported as
- Piper PA46R-350T
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4692003
- Built
- 2008
- Airframe hours
- 1,502
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-AE2A, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 25, 2024
- Departed
- AJR · Cornelia, GA
- Destination
- 3J6 · Folkston, GA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- 3J6 · Davis Field, runway 01, 2,500 × 50 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Auto-pilot, Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 6, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,510 total · 194 in this make and model · 15 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- JAX, 25 nm away
- METAR
- KJAX 101956Z 09009KT 10SM SCT027 BKN090 23/16 A3009 RMK AO2 SLP188 T02330161
Docket · 10
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 19, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 22.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.