Mooney M20K N231GZ

Summary

On 13 December 2022 at about 02:05 local time, a Mooney M20K registered N231GZ was involved in an accident near Addison, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 December 2022 at 02:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Addison, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Addison Airport (KADS)

Coordinates

32.9685, -96.8364

Aircraft

Mooney M20K

Registration

N231GZ

Category

Airplane

Year built

1980

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Abilene → Addison

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN23LA062

2 people were seriously injured.

The fatigue failure of the engine’s camshaft gear teeth which resulted in a loss of all engine power. Contributing to the accident was the non-compliance with the engine manufacturer’s recommended service bulletin.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane lost all engine power during a precision instrument approach for landing to the destination airport. After the pilot was unsuccessful in attempting to restart the engine, he performed an off-airport landing to a road, during which the airplane struck a pole and a postcrash fire ensued. There was substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. Postaccident examination revealed that about 12 of the camshaft gear teeth were fractured due to fatigue cracking. The airplane engine’s camshaft gear part numbers were affected by the engine manufacturer’s service bulletin (SB) for camshaft gear tooth fracture or cracks of the teeth. The SB called for the replacement of the camshaft gear with a newer model. The intent of the SB was to eliminate the possibility of camshaft gear tooth fracture, resulting in power loss or in-flight shutdown; compliance with the SB is not mandatory for Part 91 operations. Based upon the camshaft gear part numbers, the SB was not complied with but likely would have addressed the fatigue failure of the camshaft gear teeth. The maintenance records for the airplane were destroyed in the postimpact fire and could not be examined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.