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Rocket crash

Alan Fox

By Alan Fox
in General Mooney Talk

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Seth
Seth

Just gald he's not hurt.  If he's still on MooneySpace, we're all glad you're okay, and once everything is settled, we'd love to hear a first hand account as to what occurred to better prepare ourselv

WardHolbrook
WardHolbrook

I'm of the opinion that you should be able to know your total fuel onboard to within a gallon or two at any given point in the flight. You don't need fancy electronics or bang on fuel gauges either, t

WardHolbrook
WardHolbrook

The jury is still out on this one, but that doesn't minimize the fuel management aspect of this. It doesn't matter what engine you've got up in the nose, or how varied your fuel flows are, the techniq

Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

Alan -- when I met you and Mike last year for the first time at N57 there was another Mooney that showed up. I thought it was a Rocket. The number looks real familiar. Take a look at this FlightAware picture. Do you know him?

http://flightaware.com/photos/view/991665-55ed8dadcc557d06e79428403927db1360c80d44/aircrafttype/M20P

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MB65E Grand Master

MB65E

Posted
Posted

It's amazing how strong but thin out airplanes are. Look at the fuse tail section...there is a longeron that is angle alumnium in the same spot as all those wrinkles...Makes it look like alumnium foil. The spinner looks like it was made of the same foil. I'm sure their Ok, but the airplane will be scrapped most likely. Engine looks like it could be in good shape. I'm installing a Louder gear horn in ours!

After the video surfaced and the other pictures... The airplane is in remarkable shape if they caught the wire in the air!! Don't think is was the standard "gear up". Really lucky! I've had old Barron's die on me on roll out if you land with the pumps on, not sure how how the rockets are set up.

-Matt

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PTK Grand Master

PTK

Posted
Posted

Alan -- when I met you and Mike last year for the first time at N57 there was another Mooney that showed up. I thought it was a Rocket. The number looks real familiar. Take a look at this FlightAware picture. Do you know him?

http://flightaware.com/photos/view/991665-55ed8dadcc557d06e79428403927db1360c80d44/aircrafttype/M20P

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Chris, if you're referring to that gentleman who showed up with his wife later I thought it was a red Ovation if IRC.

The other one was a 231? from the DC area. I forget that gentleman' s name.

200DP is on MS as jojogunn. Has a few pics in gallery. Reg shows Joseph Grund, North Cape May, NJ.

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Danb Grand Master

Danb

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Chris. He looks familiar to me, I have been in Kmiv and Kwwd lately and may have talked to him last months, I've been practicing between ilg. Miv. And wwd Looks like the engine was off..I'm sure our experts will have fuel exhaustion and pilot error before breakfast

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Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

Chris, if you're referring to that gentleman who showed up with his wife later I thought it was a red Ovation if IRC.

The other one was a 231? from the DC area. I forget that gentleman' s name.

200DP is on MS as jojogunn. Has a few pics in gallery. Reg shows Joseph Grund, North Cape May, NJ.

I remember the guy and his wife from the Pittsburgh area in the red Ovation. It was either much earlier that day or another event when only Alan, Mike and I thought this guy were there. I believed it was a blue and white Rocket. Could be wrong. He left before others showed up.

The 231 was Don and I have his plane on video. He came from Freeport I think.

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Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

Looks like clipped power lines...

http://www.lowereasternshorenews.com/2014/05/airplane-crash-georgetown-delaware.html

May have had engine failure and landed gear up on purpose.

He was really close to the airport. In the first photo you can see the airport perimeter fence. Not sure where the landing gear went other than he was trying to extend a glide.

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Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

Chris. He looks familiar to me, I have been in Kmiv and Kwwd lately and may have talked to him last months, I've been practicing between ilg. Miv. And wwd Looks like the engine was off..I'm sure our experts will have fuel exhaustion and pilot error before breakfast

He looks real familiar to me as well.

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Hank Grand Master

Hank

Posted
Posted

If you watch this video, at the end when it's being drug out of the ditch [ :blink:  ], it looks like the front gear door is visible, open flat against the ground:

 

http://www.wmdt.com/story/25547151/faa-investigates-plane-crash-near-sussex-co-airport

 

A 'typical' gear up won't involve power lines, just a distraction. The investigation will determine fuel and engine power. If it was a normal landing, and he was just low, at that point the throttle would be at idle, so I don't know how much chordwise damage the prop would have anyway. The wonderful reported just said that "his plane stopped working," a useless statement with zero information content if I ever heard one.

 

The good thing is that his Mooney did what Al designed them to do, it kept the pilot safe and uninjured. He may have bruises from the seatbelts, though. In a spam can without a steel cage, this could have been really ugly.

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1964-M20E Grand Master

1964-M20E

Posted
Posted

Based on his last post here, the owner/pilot is a former Navy Aviator. Looks like it was a good landing to me. Everyone apparently walked away.

Jim

Naval aviator, that figures he tried to catch the #3 wire.  Normal landing for those guys. :)

 

At first look I thought it could fly again but with the tale twisted like that I doubt it.

 

It's good that everyone walked.

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Seth Grand Master

Seth

Posted
Posted

Just gald he's not hurt.  If he's still on MooneySpace, we're all glad you're okay, and once everything is settled, we'd love to hear a first hand account as to what occurred to better prepare ourselves for similar issues.

 

Sorry about the damage, and again, glad you're okay.

 

-Seth

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KSMooniac Grand Master

KSMooniac

Posted
Posted

It is not unusual for more damage to occur during retrieval vs. the actual incident, unfortunately!  Hopefully the plane can fly again... we'll see.  (FWIW, I have a good tailcone and empennage that can be had cheap!   ;) )

 

Glad the pilot is fine, and I'll sure want to hear what happened as well... sounds like an engine and/or fuel issue.  I've flown a friend's Rocket a couple of times and he had a LOT of trouble getting the CMI fuel injection system setup properly...and it would frequently die completely after landing.  I suppose it could die on approach as well if going to idle and lead to a land-short scenario.

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