Mooney M20C N6697U

Summary

On 9 July 2006 at about 13:30 local time, a Mooney M20C registered N6697U, operated by Matt Petz, was involved in an accident near El Dorado, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

9 July 2006 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

El Dorado, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Eldorado Airport (27R)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Mooney M20C

Registration

N6697U

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Matt Petz

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Columbus → Pecos

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW06CA181

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to switch fuel tanks during cruise flight, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 248-hour private pilot was on a 861-nautical mile cross-country flight in a single-engine airplane, when the engine lost power while in cruise flight at an altitude of 8,500 feet msl. Due to a low cloud cover, the pilot was unable to visually locate the nearest airport, however, he was able to locate a nearby road and he turned towards the road for a possible forced landing. As the pilot proceeded toward the road, he noticed an airport was located off to his left and behind him, so he elected to turn the airplane toward the airport. Due to the strong headwind, the pilot quickly realized that he would not be able to reach the airport. The pilot then made a right hand turn and landed in a field. Prior to touching down, the airplane's left wing collided with a tree and the landing gear collided with a fence before the airplane came to a complete stop. The pilot reported that he did not switch the fuel tanks in flight "which was the result of the engine failing." The pilot added that the fuel gauges were inaccurate and the fuel consumption had to be monitored via a timer. The pilot stated that approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to the loss of engine power, he told himself that he needed to switch the fuel tanks "soon." In addition, the pilot said that he "went through all the procedures except switching tanks" in an attempt to troubleshoot the power loss.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.