Mooney M20E N9288M

Summary

On 4 November 2002 at about 00:34 local time, a Mooney M20E registered N9288M was involved in an accident near Broomfield, Colorado, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 November 2002 at 00:34

Classification

Accident

Location

Broomfield, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Jeffco Airport (BJC)

Coordinates

39.9086, -107.1172

Aircraft

Mooney M20E

Registration

N9288M

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Broomfield → Broomfield

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

DEN03LA013

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's failure to maintain directional control after landing due to a sheared steering horn attach bolt that should have been replaced by maintenance personnel in compliance with an outstanding service bulletin. Contributing factors included the pilot's improper aircraft handling (relaxing elevator back pressure at high speed during rollout) and the ditch.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said he made a full flap landing. Instead of keeping the nose wheel off the runway, he relaxed elevator back pressure. When the nose wheel contacted the runway, the airplane swerved to the left. The pilot attempted to straighten the airplane using right rudder and brakes, but was unsuccessfull and he lost directional control. The airplane went off the runway and traveled across snow-covered grass. The right main and nose landing gears collapsed, and the airplane slid to a halt on the upslope side of a drainage ditch parallel to the runway. Postaccident examination disclosed the steering horn attach bolt was sheared at the nut end and the bolt head was slightly backed away from the nose gear truss where it attached. Mooney Service Bulletin M20-169, dated July 18, 1968, requires the replacement of the AN3-20A bolt with a NAS623-3-29 screw. This had not been accomplished. No brake discrepancies were noted. It could not be determined if the bolt had sheared prior to or upon touchdown or during the impact sequence. The pilot later said that if he had held the nose wheel off the runway as long as possible instead of relaxing elevator back pressure when the airplane touched down, speed would have dissipated and he could have kept the airplane on the runway by using differential braking. Damage consisted of collapsed right main and nose landing gears, buckled wing and nose gear attach points, firewall, several wing ribs, and crushed wing tips and tail cone.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.