Mooney M20R N1034S

Summary

On 4 August 2013 at about 16:10 local time, a Mooney M20R registered N1034S, operated by Red's Flying Service Inc, was involved in an accident near Tallahassee, Florida, 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

4 August 2013 at 16:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Tallahassee Regional Airport (TLH)

Coordinates

30.3969, -84.3508

Aircraft

Mooney M20R

Registration

N1034S

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Red's Flying Service Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tallahassee → Bartow

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA13LA363

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to troubleshoot the in-flight electrical problem and restore power using the operable redundant battery and his decision not to manually extend the airplane's landing gear, which resulted in a gear-up landing. Contributing to the accident was an internal electrical short of the No. 2 battery, which resulted in a total loss of electrical power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Shortly after departing on an instrument flight rules flight, the airplane abruptly lost all electrical power while operating in instrument meteorological conditions. The pilot reported that, given the abrupt nature of the electrical power loss, he assumed that it was due to a short circuit; he did not troubleshoot the electrical problem. He then descended the airplane to visual meteorological conditions and used a portable electronic device to navigate back toward the departure airport. During the return flight, the pilot was concerned about a possible electrical fire and smoke in the cockpit and wanted to land the airplane as soon as possible; therefore, he chose not to perform the emergency procedure to manually extend the airplane's electrically actuated landing gear. Upon reaching the airport, he conducted a gear-up landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane's electrical system found that the No. 2 battery was inoperable and that the total loss of electrical power was likely caused by an internal electrical short of the battery. When the electrical system's redundant (No. 1) battery was selected, the electrical system operated normally. It is likely that, if the pilot had attempted to troubleshoot or isolate the electrical problem, he could have restored electrical power, extended the landing gear normally, and executed a precautionary landing without damaging the airplane. Alternatively, he could have manually extended the landing gear.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.