Mooney M20C N9667M

Summary

On 23 October 2018 at about 18:00 local time, a Mooney M20C registered N9667M was involved in an accident near Woodbine, New Jersey, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 October 2018 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Woodbine, New Jersey, United States

Nearest airport

Woodbine Municipal Arpt (OBI)

Coordinates

39.2206, -74.7958

Aircraft

Mooney M20C

Registration

N9667M

Category

Airplane

Year built

1966

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Woodbine → Woodbine

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA19FA023

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain the proper airspeed during takeoff, which resulted in the exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and the airplane experiencing an aerodynamic stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was taking off for a personal flight. According to onboard data, when the airplane reached about 150 ft above ground level, the pitch began to increase; over the next 4 seconds, the airplane’s altitude began to increase as the groundspeed decreased. The airplane then banked to the left and descended nose-down to impact east of the runway. A witness observed that when the airplane reached about 100 ft above the runway, the landing gear was retracted. He then he diverted his attention and shortly after, he heard an impact. The airplane was recorded by airport security video just before ground contact in a near vertical descent (consistent with stall) with the landing gear extended. The pilot previously reported having physical difficulties manually retracting the landing gear, and as a result, he would use one hand to hold onto something in the cockpit to brace himself, and the other hand to operate the retracting handle assembly “Johnson bar.” To assist in retracting the landing gear, the pilot would also slow the airplane, which was supported by the data recorded by the Stratus 2S for the accident flight and a previous uneventful flight that was examined. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, engine, engine systems, and landing gear system revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. It likely that the pilot intentionally increased the airplane's nose-up pitch and decreased the airplane’s speed in order to assist him retract the landing gear. The ultimate result was the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and an inadvertent stall.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.