Mooney M20E N1310W

Summary

On 21 July 2012 at about 13:30 local time, a Mooney M20E registered N1310W was involved in an accident near Marked Tree, Arkansas, United States. 2 people were 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

21 July 2012 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Marked Tree, Arkansas, United States

Nearest airport

Marked Tree Municipal (6M8)

Coordinates

35.5331, -90.4003

Aircraft

Mooney M20E

Registration

N1310W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

West Memphis → Sullivan

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12FA463

1 person had minor injuries.

The loss of engine power during cruise flight due to a malfunction of the fuel injection servo due to a damaged O-ring.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that about 5 minutes after reaching cruise altitude, the engine started to run rough with an accompanying partial loss of power. He noted that the engine exhaust temperatures had dropped but that other engine indications were normal. The pilot elected to divert to an intermediate airport; however, the engine continued to lose power, and the pilot was unable to maintain a proper glide path to the runway. The pilot was concerned about an inadvertent aerodynamic stall, so he made a forced landing to the bean field short of the runway. Postaccident bench testing of the engine fuel injection servo revealed variations in fuel flow that were not consistent with normal servo operation. Further examination of the fuel servo revealed that the mixture control valve O-ring was damaged and that a fragment of the O-ring was located on the surface of the mixture control valve plate. This likely interfered with fuel flow through the servo and reduced the available engine power. The fuel servo was overhauled about 1 year before the accident and had accumulated about 113 hours in service since the overhaul.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.