Mooney M20C N9274V

Summary

On 25 August 2002 at about 19:30 local time, a Mooney M20C registered N9274V was involved in an accident near Warroad, Minnesota, 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

25 August 2002 at 19:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Warroad, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Northwest Angle Airport (58MN)

Coordinates

49.3517, -95.0717

Aircraft

Mooney M20C

Registration

N9274V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Warroad → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI02LA261

Nobody was injured.

The loss of engine power due to the failure of the muffler baffles which blocked the exhaust system. A factor to the accident was the treeline.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During initial climb after takeoff the aircraft experienced a loss of engine power and the pilot performed a forced landing into trees. The pilot reported the airplane "lifted off at between 75 and 78 mph and everything was normal. At 25 to 30 feet in the air I began to experience backfiring and loss of power. Then the power resumed momentarily and the engine caught again lifting us above the trees. Then the engine started backfiring severely with [a] loss of power. As we began settling into the trees I shut off the master switch and chose a tree to hit with one wing in order to break our forward motion and to slow the aircraft. The aircraft spun around doing a 180 degree turn settling into the trees." The pilot stated that he "saw a small amount of smoke coming from the [cowling]" after he exited the airplane. Inspection of the engine compartment revealed fire damage to the air filter assembly, air intake ducting, and rubberized engine compartment baffling. All muffler baffles were either burned or missing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.