Mooney M20J N201U

Summary

On 26 June 2005 at about 18:54 local time, a Mooney M20J registered N201U was involved in an accident near Hailey, Idaho, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 June 2005 at 18:54

Classification

Accident

Location

Hailey, Idaho, United States

Nearest airport

Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN)

Coordinates

43.4947, -114.2967

Aircraft

Mooney M20J

Registration

N201U

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Redmond → Hailey

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA05LA129

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while on final approach for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said that he had been cleared to land. He said that he was at approximately 300 feet above ground level (AGL) when the nose of his airplane pitched up approximately 15 degrees and the left wing dropped approximately 30 degrees. He said he "attempted to correct this condition with both the ailerons and rudder, with no results. It was as if the yoke was locked with a gust lock." The pilot said that he immediately checked the location of a flight bag and oxygen bottle that were on the floor in front of the front passenger 's seat to make certain that they were not interfering with the yoke or rudders, which they weren't. He said that he had been hand flying the airplane for several minutes, but he confirmed that the auto pilot was off. The pilot said that he believed that he was approaching a stall, so he increased power to full power. Soon, thereafter, he impacted the ground after approximately 160 degrees of left hand turn. A witness said that the airplane was on a 1/4 mile final with landing gear and flaps down. He said that it looked like the airplane started to go-around to the left with a high power setting. He said that when the airplane had turned approximately 180 degrees, its left wing impacted terrain and the airplane cartwheeled. Another witness said that the airplane was never more that 100 to 150 feet above the ground during this maneuver. The pilot had recently completed (June 5, 2005) a Mooney Pilot Proficiency Program, and received his FAA required flight review endorsement. He had flown the airplane approximately 31 hours during the previous 30 days. The density altitude at the time of the accident was calculated to be 7,292 feet.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.