1980Mooney

This particular M20J/201 was built in September 1976, If you search Aircraft.com some owners/brokers over time have advertised early manufactured M20J's/201's as "1976" models, The odd thing is if you look at the picture, it does not look like the propeller is bent in any way - not even the tips scraped. And it is not a "gear collapse" as reported in the FAA ASIAS - the gear are completely up. I wonder if he had an engine out and then landed gear up by accident. Or his gear actuator failed, his emergency manual actuator failed/jammed and he elected to gear up intentionally shutting the engine down. Doubly odd because this is a towered airport and the incident was in the early afternoon when the tower was open. The airport was closed for 2 hours per to the article and also looking at FligtAware history. If he had an engine out or jammed gear he would have declared an emergency to the tower controller. This would have been reported to the FAA. https://www.mvtimes.com/2024/09/07/landing-incident-temporarily-closes-mvy/

FYI - the 1967 M20G at Petaluma is on its fourth (4th) gear-up/collapse in 24 years. 2000 - gear-up, 2010 - porpoise and collapse, 2016 - gear-up and 2024 gear-up. Clean gear-ups/collapses in a Mooney are generally repairable. It just takes time and money.

https://www.asias.faa.gov/apex/f?p=100:93:::NO::: Gear-up Landings 1967 M20G at Petaluma Muni, CA (O69) . Looks like he was on the second "touch and go" 1976 M20J at Martha's Vineyard, MA (KMVY). Last known flight appearing on FlighAware was one year ago on Aug 14, 2023. 1968 M20F at Waterbury-Oxford (KOXC). Flying landings and taxi-back (on third landing). Pic shows right main and nose gear collapsed - slid off runway into grass. New owner in June 2024. Crash 1966 Mooney M20F near Cottonwood, AZ (P52) , Destroyed. Discussed in separate topic - appears to have been on take-off. Pilot in stable condition.

Not clear what happened. 1966 M20F, N9628M, departed Phoenix-Deer Valley Airport, AZ (KDVT) at about 6:30 AM local time. There are no ADS-B tracks once he gets north of Phoenix in either FlightAware or ADSBExchange. Aviation Safety Network claims that this happened at 9:00 AM. Possibly he had landed at Cottonwood, (P52) earlier and was departing. Plane crashed adjacent home at 71 Spur Dr., Cottonwood, AZ. (yellow circle) Propeller does not show any bending. No evidence of fuel leakage in the pictures. No fire. Engine failure? Fuel starvation? Don't know who was flying but owner is 82 years old per internet. Pilot hospitalized and stable condition. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N9628M https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ad6710&lat=33.902&lon=-111.947&zoom=10.7&showTrace=2024-09-08&trackLabels&timestamp=1725802047 https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/420941

It's possible that they mean "former owner". When I first inspected the J that I ultimately purchased, I reached down to feel the back of the tubes on nose steering truss. I felt a flat dent. I mentioned it to the partners owning it who was standing there. He reached down and confirmed the dented tube with a simultaneous look of shock and anger and said "We just had the nose gear repaired last month because it was over-turned and bent by the FBO. The FBO paid for repair. I don't think that it has even been flown since the reapir. The same FBO dented it again."

That's great advice although it is just not realistic if your are actually trying to use a Mooney as a traveling machine. There are times when my plane needed to go into a heated hangar to melt the accumulated snow and ice off before a winter return flight. Other times, a sudden severe weather change necessitated towing the plane into a hangar. Some busy FBO's logistics don't work for the owner to move it themselves. You cannot be there all the time, everytime.

That didn't work in the Watsonville mid-air in 2022. The 340 had been flying in and out of Watsonville several times during August 2020. It was returning straight in after a short cross-country flight. Both planes were communicating. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/ntsb-cites-pilot-error-in-fatal-midair-collision-over-watsonville-municipal-airport/

Before you pull the battery box, are you sure that there is not a current drain somewhere? There are two (2) hot wires that go from the battery to the front of the plane when the Master is off if I am not mistaken - 1) the hot wire going to the cabin and baggage lights (and a clock on some models) and 2) the wire going to the Master Switch which energizes the master power solenoid/relay when flipped on. If I were you, I would disconnect the 24 v. positive line coming from the battery box right at the master power solenoid/relay (which is in the tail cone next to where the original battery before the conversion was located.) Use an ammeter to see if there is any current flow that would be slowly draining the battery. You can also check the voltage before the Master is on. If you have a drain, then the batteries are just run down. You will need to find where the current leak is. If it is a bad cell in a battery, then they should be within the Concorde 6 month Full Replacement Warranty period.

As you previously mentioned, that battery box is about 75 lbs and has to be pulled down a wooden ramp (battery board) that you temporarily install. In order to get to it and reach the box, you have to wedge your body into the tailcone a bit. You will wind up leaning on something in the tailcone putting additional weight back there.

I went to the Concorde site to look at approved applications. Amazingly Rocket Engineering never got the 24 volt Concorde batteries approved for either the later model M20J's or M20K 252's. (all with 28 volt systems). All older Missiles (M20J) and Rockets (M20K) with 14 volt systems have 2 batteries in parallel. The smaller number of later Missiles and Rockets with 28 volt systems have two (2) 12 volt batteries in series. @MikeOH was correct in your application/model. I am not sure which (parallel vs series) is more easily damaged by overcharging if one cell on one battery is bad. I have always changed out both batteries together. They typically last 6-7 years. Never had any charging problem.

Cirrus nose wheel turns 108 degrees either direction. Mooney only 11 degrees left and 13 degrees right. I think that asymmetry can throw someone off - especially if making S-turns or side to side deflection while backing. (Especially on a power tug or tractor). Pushing the nose wheel left turn the extra 2 degrees to 13 degrees like the right (to where someone eyeballed the right turn deflection) will bend the truss tube. Service Instructions SIM20-137 says “Towing by tractor or other powered equipment is NOT RECOMMENDED. ” That is just not realistic.

The 252 was the first 28 volt model. From Mooney Chronology https://www.mooneyevents.com/chrono.htm 1986 M20K 252 25-1000 to 25-1066 Continental TSI0-360-MB(1) (210 HP). Replaces 231 with intercooled engine, Garrett variable wastegate. First model with curved side window. Also, enclosed landing gear; 28V electrical. Four place. “The next new model, the M20K 252, appeared in early 1986 with a top speed of 252 miles per hour (406 km/h). It replaced the 231 and achieved its higher speed with the same 210 horsepower (160 kW) engine. It featured a new 28-volt electrical system to power additional equipment and to improve cold-weather starting.”

No. It has 2 batteries in Parallel. This is a Rocket Engineering conversion. They did the same thing with the Rocket and Missile conversion. There are 2 batteries in the tail - In addition to more cranking power, they also act as big Charlie weights to offset the extra 200+ lbs added forward of the firewall. Early J’s and K’s had two (2) 12 V Conchorde’s and later ones had two (2) 24V Concorde’s. But you are right that the other battery could become overcharged and damaged due to excessive charging of the possibly dead cell undervoltage battery.

If they have been drained dead, this may save you about $1 K

https://www.asias.faa.gov/apex/f?p=100:93:::NO::: Three gearups: M20F at PAWTUCKET, RI. M20C at ROCHESTER, NY. M20J at SHERMAN, TX (doing Touch and Go's) One mismanaged landing bounced off runway: M20K at WAUKESHA, WI. One mismanaged landing and go around into trees: M20K at FAIRMONT, WV.

Since no-one else is going to ask, then what was the one crucial mistake? FAA ASIAS is posted: "AIRCRAFT ATTEMPTED A GO-AROUND AND CRASHED OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY, FAIRMONT, WV."

A couple observations. It appears that he landed on Runway 05. Runway 05 has a 0.7% downslope Runway 05 has a 720 ft displacement. That means he only had 2,245 ft. usable (although there appears to be about 200 ft in the runup area before the Runway 23 threshold which could be used as overrun)

No. Grand Canyon Caverns Airport, L37, is open to the public. No approval is needed. Many airports open to the public are privately owned. For example, here in Houston all the GA airports on the west side except Sugar Land are privately owned but open to the public. (West Houston, Executive, Southwest, David Wayne Hooks). Sugar Land was also privately owned by Dr Hull (hence Hull Field) until his family sold it to the City of Sugar Land. Grand Canyon Caverns Airport, L37, is owned by GRAND CANYON CAVERNS & INN, LLC. However, Hualapai Airport, 3AZ5, (where this bozo landed) is owned by the HUALAPAI INDIAN TRIBE and is a Private airport. It is not open to the public.

Unfortunately, there’s no published ADS-B detail while the Mooney was on Final or on the runway on either FlightAware or ADSBExchange. You’ll probably have to wait 1 - 2 years for the NTSB to provide any anything.

Few details. Occurred Friday, August 30. Witness reported that it overshot the runway at Fairmont Municipal Airport-Frankman Field, (4G7). Runway is only 2,965 ft, long and trees are at the end of the runway. Wind does not seem to be a factor - was about 3 mph from the North. "Caller advising the plane went off the end of the runway down by the river. Multiple injuries reported. Units on scene with 2 patients, both conscious and alert. 1 wing broken with fuel leaking. Plane is about 100 ft off the runway. Fire Dept is using a stokes basket to bring the patients up the hill." https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/419051 Pilot and passenger survived. Plane is a 1989, M20K, 252. Current owner, age 64 years per internet, purchased it in 2015 and was based in Albuquerque until about 2020 and then Indiana. https://www.aircraft.com/aircraft/200946443/n1005u-1989-mooney-m20k-252tse https://www.aircraft.com/aircraft/200735563/n1005u-1989-mooney-m20k-252tse

When approaching and landing straight-in on a runway at an uncontrolled, seemingly quiet, airport, there are other hazards than unannounced traffic in the air. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/346120

This is a hot button issue with any prospective Mooney buyer. A quick search of the MooneySpace site using Google shows that SB208 (either spelled SB208, SB-208 or Service Bulletin 208) is a subject of discussion in over 200 different topics. I have never seen a late 1970's - 1990 Mooney that did not have SB208A done and logged - granted I never looked at anything but J models. I saw some really poor looking welding repair of frame corrosion of one particular J that was in Louisiana. I passed on that plane. Yes my logs showed that SB208A had been complied with before purchase. And the fiberglass had been removed and replaced with foam insulation. It had been done about 8 years prior to my purchase. You have never seen a Mooney buyer that insisted on SB-208? Searching MS topics/discussions on "pre-buy, you will find over 60 separate discussions that specifically highlight the need for SB208 to be completed on the aircraft. Many say it is at the top of their list and to read the logs first. And many say "SB208 will need to be done" and to walk away if it has not been done and logged.

Why do you think that he would be inclined to do this on every pre-buy? He clearly stated above that on this particular plane “After reviewing the airframe logs myself, I can confirm SB-208 has never been logged which is why I want it done as part of my prebuy.”

This is an extreme example.