MOONEY CRASH VIDEO: Woodland, WA APRIL 2016

[challenger_nami]

Accident of Mooney Woodland, WA APRIL 2016

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/NvjuglBoWO0

The video is 18 minutes long. Only the first minute is the accident video, and the rest is analysis.


From NTSB REPORT:

Probable Cause and Findings

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:


The pilot's delay in recognizing that the airplane was not performing as expected and aborting the takeoff, which resulted in collision with a berm beyond the end of the runway. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's exceedance of the airplane's gross weight and the underperformance of the engine due to governor setting and magneto timing deficiencies. Contributing to the severity of the rear passenger's injuries was his decision to forego use of his shoulder harness and/or the absence of head rests.


FULL NTSB REPORT:
https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/Repor ... L&IType=FA


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[pelmet]

Warm weather, no wind, overweight, runway less than 2000' long in a Mooney. When the takeoff path could be marginal, one should analyze each item working against your takeoff performance. If they really start to add up, you have a problem.

When most of the elements seem to not be in your favour, it is time to start coming up with an alternative plan such as less weight.

I only had it happen once where I forced the passengers to to take a taxi to an airport 45 minutes away so I could takeoff empty. In that case, unexpected soft runway surface added to the list of things to consider.

In a place like Washington state, there will frequently be a closer airport.