usafhaynes1

No mechanical error.

I lost my M20c in May to collapsed landing gear. I'm happy to announce that I've received my insurance check and have already secured a deal for another M20C! I'm picking it up on the 27th. It's a great deal on a stock plane. Great low time a/c that is IFR certified. I'll need to put a 201 windshield on it and flap gap seals in the future. It has an inop autopilot (servo needs overhaul). I look forward to returning to the air and again being a part of the Mooney community! Ona sad note, my friend had a gear up landing last night in his m20f. He is upset that it happened and we went over the casual factors. I won't post any info here but will gladly take PMs over lessons learned. He and his girlfriend were not injured. The belly took damage as well as the prop/engine.

I keep up with NTSB accident reports and am bewildered as to why my incident was not published. I'm not looking for any validation but I find it strange that all accidents (fatal/non fatal) and incidents are reported. This link: http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20130520X11307&key=1 shows another aircraft damaged due to landing gear collapse on 19 May while I had my gear collapse on 14 May. The NTSB declared it an incident but didn't report it. Theories?

I have to agree with 201er. Everyone on this site has been over the top helpful with advice, comments and support for me as I joined the Mooney community, shared my experiences and then totaled my plane. This site was my primary go to for reading about setting up for landing a Mooney, which is why I greased it on my first two landings. Now to just get my insurance check and get another one that won't have the landing gear collapse! I miss having a plane!

I'm looking at an m20e with autopilot right now. It's about 10k less than an F model I was researching. My requirements are Mooney, less than 1500 hours on engine, autopilot, IFR cert. There are a couple within my price range.

I apologize for the delay. I've been in military training and dealing with the FAA and ntsb as well as insurance. The plane is officially economically totaled. They are salvaging it out. I'm getting a check for the total insurance. Time to look for another plane and yes, I'm still a mooney fanatic! Ntsb classifies it as a minor incident. FAA cannot determine the cause at this time. All logs are complete, the nose gear linkage was broken in 4 places with no signs of wear and tear or corrosion. All I can say is I'm thankful there were witnesses who saw me land, taxi to fuel and taxi back out with no issues prior to incident.

Possible good news developing about my plane. I can't divulge anything until after Monday.

I took over 30 pics on my phone. I'll post them at soon as possible.

Annual done last June. I had 30 hours in the plane with no issues.

Annual done last June. I had 30 hours in the plane with no issues.

Only the left main collapsed. Right main was down and locked

I just bought the plane last month. I insured it for 25k, the amount I paid for it. I bought ground and air insurance. The plane is covered. The nose collapsed, then the left main went down and the left wing had enough damge that some fuel was leaking. At first I thought I'd hit some bump until I saw the nose collapse. I immediately shut off fuel and turned everything off. Me and my dog climbed out with no injuries. I'm sad my plane is dead. With a 7k prop and 15k engine rebuild, rebuild landing gear, front vowel, front gear doors, left wing, that will cost more than 25k or 70% of 25k so insurance is probably going to total the plane. I had to pay 160 to shop help to drive me to savannah, rent a car, drove for two hours and still have 5 hours to drive tomorrow that was a one hour flight away. I miss my plane. The questions? Yes, it was a jbar, yes I checked it twice on landing. I taxied to parking, refueled, backed up plane, did 360 turn back to runway. I was at 1k rpm, announced takeoff runway 23, shut my side vent, checked my mixture, prop, elevator trim and went post hold line, pushed right rudder and as I turned onto runway, gear collapsed. Ironic that today was my bday.

Landed at kjyl, taxi to parking, refuel, taxi back out and my nose gear collapsed as I turned onto the runway. The plane is totaled. I'm stuck. No rental car! No injuries. Was taxi at like 2 kits when it collapsed. Prop is done, engine shot. I'm expecting insurance check. Probable cause is nose gear link broke causing collapse.

Let the choir sing for all posts are exactly my personal considerations. My ifr certificate is a license to learn!

LLL, I want to pick your brain for all of your experience. I may be IFR rated, but I'm terrified of flying through actual imc. Why? 99% of my training was vmc. Anyone else who has actual imc experience in a mooney please share your experiences so I can learn. I truly feel that I'm not ready to fly actual IMC conditions in my mooney. I want to learn so I don't become a NTSC fatality report.

I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted but I am officially an IFR rated pilot. My mooney is getting IFR cert on Monday. Now it's time to learn ifr workload in my plane versus a Cessna g1000. That check ride was difficult.

I appreciate your advice and yes, I do run my checklist every flight. My iPad Mini is yoke mounted with three apps running in this order: 1. my flight logbook (it detects takeoff and landing) 2. my checklist (stored in pdf) 3. foreflight I start the flight logbook and set it to new flight. I then switch over to my checklist and verify everything has been accomplished up to engine start. My POH states that for engine start, run up, takeoff and landing to have fuel pump on. After engine start, I switch to flight logbook to touch engine start time; switch over to foreflight to program my route (this is practice for IFR clearances in the future as well as for taxi guide), taxi to run-up, switch back to checklist and perform run-up checklist. The only time I do not have my checklist up is when I'm on final or in the pattern and I'm running BCGUMPS (boost pump, carb heat, gas, undercarriage, mixture, prop, seatbelts/landing lights, runway lights). I even speak the words BCGUMPS so I ensure checklist is complete. When 500' above the runway, I verify landing gear is locked in down position (read about that on this site). I'm positive that forgetting to turn off fuel pump during taxi and after run up, I had too much fuel when I went full throttle. I returned to run-up and verified checklist again, this time ensuring fuel pump was turned off after run-up and I did not turn fuel pump back on until I was on runway centerline, at which I turned on fuel pump, verified takeoff trim, mixture full, prop full, throttle full and the plane preformed normal takeoff. During run-up, right mag dropped about 110, left mag dropped 100. I absolutely believe complacency and not running checklists the same every time is what can lead to catastrophic events. I look forward to hitting that 1000 hour mark!!!

I appreciate the input. I'll keep that info in my toolkit of knowledge if I encounter the same scenario.

The good news? I'm about to hit 100 hours of flight time. Yah!!! While I'm still gaining experience, it seems I learn something new every time I fly. Yesterday, I had to do a progress check for the IFR oral exam with my instructor. The whole time I was biting at the bit to get in my Mooney and test out the overhauled KI-209 (plane getting IFR cert done today). The prog check went well and off to the plane I went! Pre-flight, taxi, run up, no issues, all gauges in the green. I take the active, go full power and...nothing. Engine would simply not produce power...sort of sputtering. I ensured I was full throttle and after 2000' I called rejected takeoff and taxi over the radio. My thoughts raced about what had I done wrong. I remembered reading about members who lean the plane for taxi. I turned off the boost pump, leaned the mixture and taxied back to run up. I kept the mixture about halfway out, went full power and the engine sprung to life (brakes work great BTW cause I had to stand on them!!!). I left boost pump off until on the active, full mixture, full power and the plane almost leapt off the ground. What did I learn yesterday? I will NOT leave boost pump on during taxi, pre or post run up. I WILL lean the engine during taxi. I'm positive I had too much fuel available to the engine at takeoff and it couldn't make proper power. Afterwards, the KI-209 worked flawlessly and I greased the landing. First time since I bought the plane two weeks ago. I credit all the reading I've done on this sight to help me troubleshoot my plane when it doesn't respond 100%.

My friend and I are both enthusiastic Mooney owners, but we realize there are many other types of aircraft with planes, parts and avionics for sale. We've created a website that is currently free to list anything. It's simple to use and search. www.inthepattern.com Get your spare parts, or whole planes sold easily.

Thanks!!! I'll put it on my growing list of "upgrades"!

My AF buddy also said they lost another aircraft that flies 24/7 over there as well. Prayers to the family of both crews.

luckily my iPad mini is yoke mounted! But I get your point. The article comes from NTSB website. I've been pouring over accident reports, analyzing trends (students wreck lots of cessna's by improper rudder control!) and trying to see how I can learn from the accidents to ensure I prevent my own.