On August 5, 1996, at 1415 hours Pacific daylight time, a Piper PA-28-235, N9218W, impacted the terrain during an aborted landing at Truckee-Tahoe Airport, California. The aircraft was substantially damaged; however, the private pilot and two passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area personal flight which departed from Truckee about 1300 hours. In a telephone interview, the pilot told the NTSB investigator that he was returning to land on runway 28, and that he recalled the wind being from 270 degrees, gusting to 18 knots. During the landing flare the left wing came up and the aircraft started drifting toward the right side of the runway. The pilot decided to go-around and applied full throttle. During the go-around, the aircraft drifted further to the right, off the runway, and then over adjacent sagebrush. The right main gear contacted a mound of dirt and the aircraft settled back to the ground and spun around. It came to rest about 50 feet north of the runway, about midway between the runway 28 threshold and the runway 1/19 intersection, facing east. The pilot reported no mechanical problems. In the Truckee weather observation taken at 1345, surface winds were from 250 degrees at 13 knots with gusts to 22 knots and the temperature was 77 degrees. The density altitude was 8,150 feet.