Ovation down north of San Antonio

[rainman]

Just saw on the local news that N6868 went down north of San Antonio and both occupants had only minor injured. The photo showed the plane basically intact and upright. It is registered in San Antonio. I don't know the owner. Ray

 

[neilpilot]

That's Bill Pearson's M20R

https://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Pearson/100009595500737

[rainman]

News update states they overshot a private runway and went through a fence. The photo shows them both standing next to the plane on a road on Fox News KABB channel 29.

[TonyK]

The very best outcome to a bad situation.

[KSMooniac]

Dang, that is too bad but glad they're fine. Bill is a long time Mooney owner and retired pro pilot.

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[neilpilot]

Overshoot was at T94, a 2225' runway.  

[exM20K]

Wow - sorry to hear about Bill's mishap. He was one of the Mooney Mailing List originals.  That field looks tight - check out the trees at the end of this video. For sure not a lot of room for overrun if landing to the NW

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by exM20K

[fantom]

Bill is an original, in many ways. There must be a good story behind the overrun.

I've landed at T94. Clearly a character builder, and not for the faint of heart.

[Jerry 5TJ]

I’ve landed my Ovation at CA35 which is at sea level, has an unobstructed approach to 22, and is 2100’ long.  There was not much excess pavement for the M20R.  

Sorry to hear about the event.  There is  a comment on the FF airport information page for T94 saying “pilots unfamiliar must use extreme caution.”   

 

 

[exM20K]

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Small-plane-lands-on-North-Side-San-Antonio-street-12838823.php#photo-15404039

Article says it was an undershoot, which is what it looks like on street view. Filed to SAT, only one prop blade bent - could well be forced landing, though from the street view an undershoot seems impossible. More likely pranged something with the left wing and spun around to face southeast.  Whatever the case, it doesn't look like that prop was turning when it went through the fence.  LiveATC.net - he was headed to T94....1900Z archive at about 18:52 for tower and 18:20 for approach.

Edited April 16, 2018 by exM20K

[Guest]

I hope they didn’t cause more damage lifting the plane with narrow straps under the fuselage.

Clarence

[LANCECASPER]

18 hours ago, fantom said:

Bill is an original, in many ways. There must be a good story behind the overrun.

I've landed at T94. Clearly a character builder, and not for the faint of heart.

I've been a passenger going into T94 in a Cessna 182 with 40 degrees flaps with a guy named Bill Fowler who lived on the field. He used about half the runway. He was absolutely the exception. I flew in there with another 182 pilot that had flown into T94 many times and we used close to 3/4 of the runway - still impressive.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Twin-Oaks-Airport/105889719469273

That being said, the runway is 2225 feet and feels like the width of a sidewalk (actually 30 feet) with houses and trees and power lines and people with pets that walk across the runway when you are on final.

It felt like we left tire marks on the roof of a two story house on final. There is not a chance in the world I would take a Mooney in there even though I was told that  someone had a Mooney that lived there, probably Bill Pearson. There is not enough margin of error for me. Could I do it? Sometimes. But I am not confident that I could do it every time. Today as an example the wind was very gusty around San Antonio.

I am glad they sustained no major injuries and it looks like the Ovation will fly again. Landing at Twin Oaks (T94) may work 99% of the time, but it's the 1% of the time that would make me lose sleep at night. There is a dip in the runway that could easily lead to porpoising and a prop strike in a Mooney. Once you get below the tree lines you are committed to land since there is no room for a go around. Take-offs on 30 don't work well since there are trees and power lines at the end of the runway. Landing on 12 doesn't work well since you have to stay high to avoid the same  trees and power lines. It is only a couple nm from San Antonio Int'l. I would prefer to land there or anywhere else around San Antonio. I don't need to land on a sidewalk in someone's back yard to prove I'm a pilot.

Everything I've heard about Bill Pearson is that he's a great Mooney Pilot. I'm sure he took his short body Mooney in and out of there 100's, if not 1000's of times without incident. The long body is different to land and when you are getting used to it takes more runway. When I moved from a mid-body (231) to a Bravo in 1996 I moved from an airport with a shorter runway (Boerne Stage 5C1 which had a shorter runway at the time than it does now) to San Antonio International until I was used to it. Still I don't think I could stop it in as short of distance as I did the 231.

Thoughts and prayers are with Bill Pearson and his wife as they recover physically and emotionally from this.

[M016576]

3 hours ago, exM20K said:

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Small-plane-lands-on-North-Side-San-Antonio-street-12838823.php#photo-15404039

Article says it was an undershoot, which is what it looks like on street view. Filed to SAT, only one prop blade bent - could well be forced landing, though from the street view an undershoot seems impossible. More likely pranged something with the left wing and spun around to face southeast.  Whatever the case, it doesn't look like that prop was turning when it went through the fence.  LiveATC.net - he was headed to T94....1900Z archive at about 18:52 for tower and 18:20 for approach.

At least the damage doesn’t look too bad.  Might be more of a hit to the ego than anything else.

[rainman]

TV news showed a crane with straps lifting the plane to clear the road. I don't know what damage the crane did to the plane.

[M016576]

5 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Unfortunately the left wing looks bent up mid span.  Certainly repairable, but combined with the obvious damage to the prop, serious. 

If the motor wasn’t turning, does the engine still require a tear down?  Just curious.l (hopefully I never have to find out the hard way).

[DonMuncy]

6 minutes ago, M016576 said:

If the motor wasn’t turning, does the engine still require a tear down?  Just curious.l (hopefully I never have to find out the hard way).

As I understand it, Continental doesn't require it, but suggests it.

[Floyd]

According to faa records, He lived at a house on the airport.

[Marauder]

3 minutes ago, pmccand said:

According to the yellow tape, this is a "crime scene"... now just exactly what crime was committed?

Just askin' 

Damaging a perfect airplane!

Phil -- I saw you at Sun N Fun but didn't want to interrupt you since you were busy with lots of potential customers.

[Stnelson903]

According to the yellow tape, this is a "crime scene"... now just exactly what crime was committed?
Just askin' 

In Texas, the DPS is in charge of all aircraft accidents until the NTSB shows up.


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[Bob_Belville]

It seems unlikely to me that the engine was stopped before hitting the curb. I wonder if that stout street curb stopped the engine dead when the first blade hit it?

[steingar]

What a shame, that's such a spanky aircraft.  Glad to hear though unsurprised that pilot and pax are all right, Mooneys are stout.  I hope it can be made all better.  I sure as hell am not flying a Mooney into a 2200 ft occluded strip.  My skills aren't that sharp and my cohones aren't that big.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, M016576 said:

If the motor wasn’t turning, does the engine still require a tear down?  Just curious.l (hopefully I never have to find out the hard way).

There isn’t an AD requiring on a Continental as there is with a Lycoming, as far as I know.  But I can’t imagine not doing an engine inspection with the propeller being bent like this one.  Not doing it would certainly de-value the plane in the future.

Clarence

[Jerry 5TJ]

The Continental SB requires an IRAN for any prop strike that damages the propeller.     

I’m sorry to say I know this from personal experience. 

Insurance will cover the cost for that procedure, plus the propeller replacement. Add a few bucks (few in aviation terms) to the insurance payment and get a full engine overhaul.  

With a new wing and the firewall forward refurbishment it will be (almost) a new plane in about 9 months.  

 

[MyNameIsNobody]

None of the usual complaints about everybody’s insurance rates going up like there are with a gear up.  Interesting.  Glad everyone is O.K. I wonder if Nostradamus could of predicted that one?

[LANCECASPER]

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/04/mooney-m20r-ovation-n6868-incident_16.html

It looks like it overshot runway 30, broke through the fence (so for sure engine teardown) and ended up on Heimer Rd.