Mooney M20K N1147N

Summary

On 26 October 2003 at about 22:19 local time, a Mooney M20K registered N1147N was involved in an accident near San Diego, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 October 2003 at 22:19

Classification

Accident

Location

San Diego, California, United States

Nearest airport

Montgomery Field (MYF)

Coordinates

32.8156, -117.1394

Aircraft

Mooney M20K

Registration

N1147N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St. Johns → San Diego

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX04LA028

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's failure to configure the airplane properly for the go-around which resulted in degraded climb performance, and his failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in a stall. The tailwind was a contributing factor.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane landed hard on a highway while attempting to perform a go-around from runway 28R. The pilot received a preflight weather briefing from 1120 to 1131 and was advised he could not file IFR into the destination airport due to the closure of the TRACON and the airport ATCT due to a major forest fire threatening the facilities. He was advised he "might be able to get in VFR." He filed IFR to an intersection located in the vicinity of his destination airport. Once the flight arrived in the general destination area, the pilot canceled his IFR clearance and flew visually to the airport. After attempting to land runway 28R, he applied power for a go-around. He retracted the flaps but left the landing gear down, and did not put the propeller control in the full forward position. As the pilot maneuvered during the go-around he turned into a tailwind situation and the airplane was unable to maintain a climb. The airplane descended to impact on a highway. A post crash fire erupted and consumed the airplane. The POH for the airplane states that the propeller control should be at a high rpm during landing. For a go-around procedure, the POH indicates that the pilot should apply power, retract the flaps to the takeoff position [10 degrees], and then retract the landing gear and remaining flaps once the airplane accelerates to 91 mph (77 knots) IAS. A post-accident inspection revealed that the propeller governor control arm was 3/8-inch from the low pitch stop. A METAR was issued at 1414 that noted the wind was from 070 degrees at 6 knots, gusting to 14 knots. No discrepancies were found duirng an examination of the engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.