Mooney M20B N74530

Summary

On 14 October 2002 at about 14:00 local time, a Mooney M20B registered N74530 was involved in an accident near Loa, Utah, United States. 2 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

14 October 2002 at 14:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Loa, Utah, United States

Coordinates

38.6514, -111.6517

Aircraft

Mooney M20B

Registration

N74530

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Loa → Provo

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN03LA006

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inadvertent placement of the fuel selector position in the off position. A contributing factor was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the aircraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said that the engine "just quit," and he suspected it was fuel related. He said he had moved his seat aft to retrieve something off the back seat. A recovery crew noted that the fuel shut-off valve, located under the pilot's seat, was between the "right" and "off" positions. The right wing tank was empty, as it had been ripped open by a rock, and approximately 10 to 11 gallons of fuel was drained out of the unbreached left wing tank. The pilot said he had recently purchased the airplane and had logged 21 hours of flight time, 19 of which he had logged in the 90 days prior to the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.