Mooney M-20F N3207F

Summary

On 1 July 1984 at about 23:00 local time, a Mooney M-20F registered N3207F was involved in an accident near Red Bay, Alabama, United States. 4 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

1 July 1984 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Red Bay, Alabama, United States

Coordinates

34.4309, -88.1297

Aircraft

Mooney M-20F

Registration

N3207F

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Sikeston

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL84LA214

1 person was seriously injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE ACFT LANDED GEAR UP SHORT OF THE RWY IN AN ATTEMPT TO RETURN TO THE RWY AFTER A POWER LOSS AT LOW ALT. DURING TAKEOFF THE ARPT MANAGER SAID THE ENGINE SOUND CHANGE WAS CONSISTENT WITH POWER LOSS FROM FUEL STARVATION. FAA DID A POST ACCIDENT ENGINE TEST RUN AND HAD TO RUN THE ENGINE RICH WITH BOOST PUMP ON TO KEEP IT RUNNING. THE FUEL SYSTEM WAS EXAMINED TO DETERMINE WHY IT WAS RUNNING LEAN. THE FUEL INJECTOR INLET SCREEN SHOWED EVIDENCE OF CORROSION AND RUST. FUEL FLOW WAS FOUND TO BE LEAN. INJECTORS AND FLOW DIVIDER WERE REMOVED FOR A CHECK. THE INJECTOR WAS FOUND TO BE CONTAMINATED WITH DIRT, RUST AND WATER. THE THROTTLE LINKAGE WAS WORN AND BINDING. THE IDLE MIXTURE SETTING WAS ADJUSTEDTO THE LEAN SIDE. WHEN THE FUEL INJECTOR WAS REINSTALLED, THE ENGINE RAN ROUGH AND RICH. LEANED WITH THE MIXTURE CONTROL THE ENGINE RAN SMOOTHLY AT ALL SETTINGS. THERE WAS NO PROBLEM WITH THE THROTTLE LINKAGE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.