The pilot was attempting to land on a constrained turf runway in Asheville, Alabama.
A witness told investigators that the Mustang II approached the runway too fast, landed long, and bounced several times.
The pilot aborted the landing with limited runway remaining.
The witness noted the airplane “staggered into the air” at a high pitch angle with the wings rocking left and right.
The pilot told investigators that the airplane’s nose “dropped” before it hit the ground.
Based on this information, it is likely that the pilot exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack during the aborted landing and subsequent initial climb, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during initial climb after an aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain.
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This October 2023 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Another beautiful airplane bites the dust! Sad!
The main issue here? Perhaps a loose nut behind the wheel?
Per AOPA Airports and Airnav, the runway is 1,800 ft long, not 3,900 ft.!
My Cessna would need over 1,100 ft ground run on turf and a warm day, so not much altitude at the end of the runway.!
I don’t know how a low power Mustang2 would do.?
If I found the correct performance reference, landing distance is similar to a Skyhawk with takeoff performance quite a bit better than the Skyhawk. But from what is mentioned in the report, the main issues were landing too long and aborting too late (plus pitch control on the abort).