Cessna 172 N75765 accident near Yakima, Washington

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to attain sufficient altitude during a go-around, which resulted in impact with hilly terrain.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported that he chose to conduct a low approach over the private airstrip to familiarize himself with it and then go around. He approached the airstrip from the north and entered the left base leg. After turning onto final, the airplane was on a stabilized approach. About 20 ft above ground level, he applied full power, pitched the nose up, and retracted the flaps. The airplane would not gain altitude and was quickly approaching the uphill elevation of the airstrip. The airplane narrowly cleared the hill at the end of the airstrip but continued to lose altitude. The airplane impacted terrain, went over an embankment, nosed over, and came to rest inverted. The fuselage and wings were substantially damaged. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR20CA125 for the full record.