Yet Another Mooney down in Idaho

[kortopates]

http://www.thekathrynreport.com/2011/07/mooney-m20c-n6855n-three-people-killed.html

Very little known about this one except that it took 3 more lives since it happended at a private strip.

I don't recall seeing such bad accident statistics in our Mooney family. Over the last 10 days of FAA accident/incident reports there have been 10 Incidents/Accidents, of which 4 accidents totalled to 8 fatalities. 4 of the fatalities where in todays daily report (ocurring yesterday) involving 3 accidents. We all have to be more careful out there!

 

 

[scottfromiowa]

-Four dead in California-believed to be stall trying to climb above fog.

-one dead in Georgia- climb departure-engine failure prop?

-three dead in Idaho-Unknown?

-two dead in Arizona-Departing engine problems stall spin on return?

Ten lives lost in a very short time period.  Tragic.  I have read the articles on those lost.  Just leaves a pit inside.

[alex]

This is definitely getting very creepy. I'm glad my wife is oblivious to all these accidents.

[kortopates]

Quote: scottfromiowa

-Four dead in California-believed to be stall trying to climb above fog.

-one dead in Georgia- climb departure-engine failure prop?

-three dead in Idaho-Unknown?

-two dead in Arizona-Departing engine problems stall spin on return?

Ten lives lost in a very short time period.  Tragic.  I have read the articles on those lost.  Just leaves a pit inside.

[PTK]

What is going on?  Extremely disturbing.

[Skywarrior]

More people are getting outside and taking advantage of annual vacation time, or they see Fall approaching and feel pressed to make use of the Summer that remains.

I bet some of these peole have not flown in a good while, but feel time pressure to "get some use out of that thing" before the weather changes.

You gotta be honest with yourself, and slow yourself down when you sense that you are responding to self-imposed pressure. You can call it 'GetHomeitis", or "GottaGetThereBeforeTheFuelPumpCloses", or be like the twin-engine pilot a couple weeks ago who was trying to get to Louisiana late on Saturday night so he wouldn't miss Sunday church services the next morning - and obliterated the entire 7-person family when he ran out of gas enroute.

If you're rushing, for whatever reason, sit down and ask yourself what is going to happen if you *don't* rush.

If you're honest, you'll probably realize that the world isn't gonna end if you don't get there at the speed of heat.

You won't find yourself in a bind if you leave yourself an out to begin with.

Chuck M.

[aerobat95]

This is getting crazy.....I don't remember a time where so many small planes have crashed in such a small period of time...I dont know....maybe it is because people are rusty and getting out.  In the Air Force we have the 101 critical days of summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) where we lose more people than any other time of the year.  But, we are now in the middle of the summer....we just need to as a community be more careful and implement personal minimums with reguard to currency and weather mins.  Just because the rules say you can doesnt always mean its a good idea.  I would say that if you can afford to fly and maintain a small airplane then you should be able to afford an instructor a few times a year.  Its not a bad idea to have someone objective sit along and watch you fly.  Sometimes you may pick up some bad habbits that you don't even know about.  Anyway enough of my rambling....my thoughts are with all the friends and familiy impacted by these terrible accidents. 

[jelswick]

Agree Aerobat.  I think the economy might be having an impact on currency for some.  I'm very thankful to have a lot of flying recently, but was feeling rusty before the last few weeks, month or so.  I feel a little uncomfortable if I haven't flown in the last two weeks.  Will it keep me safe?  I hope so, but don't bank on it.  I try to tell myself every time I get in my Mooney that I love her, but she bites in a serious way if not flown correctly.  I don't want to be in those reports and we're losing good pilots, so I know I'm no better than any of them.  These are not just the bozos that act like they're nordo due to ego and the regs don't require they talk; these appear to truly be good pilots.  I've made so many great friends in this flying and Mooney community...please everyone be very careful and I'll be doing the same... that doesn't guarantee we won't be reading about each other at some point, me included, but I hope and pray we're all careful enough that we're not.

[PTK]

We can't blame the FAA for our shortcomings. Some people want to believe the FAA is against GA.  Not the case.  We as a group give the FAA lots of headaches because we refuse to stay current and up to speed.  If we want to own airplanes we must fly them and fly them often folks.  It's not a car and it's not a boat! It's an aircraft.  It will bite us hard and spit us out.  We can lose the airplane or worse.  It need only happen once.  

Take a safety pilot up once in a while and practice some emergencies.  We need to reverse this trend for our own good.  We are the only ones who can do this.

RIP friends. RIP.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Quote: allsmiles

We can't blame the FAA for our shortcomings.

[DaV8or]

Quote: alex

This is definitely getting very creepy. I'm glad my wife is oblivious to all these accidents.

[PTK]

Quote: Parker_Woodruff

I don't think anyone's doing that here.  The FAA can be blamed for a lot of other things, though.

[Skyatty]

Hate to speculate on the cause of the accident but the accident site is only about an hour and a half from SLC and I have flown over that area several times in the past.  It is mountainous terrain and that can complicate weather issues and on Monday there was a lot of convective activity in the area.  I was supposed to fly with a friend from SLC to DEN on Monday but we cancelled our flight that morning and took a commercial flight due to weather.  There were significant thunderstorms in the region on Monday as well as some icing.  When we landed back in SLC at about 7:45 p.m. the weather was still significant.  All the way to Denver and back we were second-guessing whether or not we could have safely made the flight with "maybe" being the final word.  

I will take a WAG that given the weather in the region on Monday, whatever happened had something to do with weather.  I have a 16-year old son so this one is a little more personal to me.  RIP boys.

[kortopates]

In the lastest update at the same website, they indicate "The single-engine plane did a fly-by of the private landing strip and started to make a turn then crashed as it was banking."

If so, it may be the all too common traffic pattern stall-spin scenario, much like Wastonville accident. The local reporter on the linked video mentions says "engine" stall is being suspected/investigated, but I'll bet he added "engine" himself not knowing any better.

After the 8 fatal aircraft accidents that happened the weekend before and the 4 we had last weekend, I am thinking preliminary reports on all these will take longer than typical to get published. I hate to speculate as well, but I find the learning impact is most effective when it’s real and recent. By the time I read the final report months to over a year after, the learning impact is often very diluted by the common occurrence of the reported cause and the sterility of the report. Rarely do we get an opportunity to get a glimpse of what was going on in the pilots mind and therefore how the sequence or chain could have started so we might learn some take aways on how to break it. But I thought we got a rare glimpse with the Landers WY accident last fall through the wife’s web blog postings on her conversations with the pilot before he departed. I am looking forward to that report when it comes out hoping they include the decision making background information they’ve no doubt collected. (but they probably won’t)  As Wx related accidents almost always are, that one appears to be all about judgment and planning despite the final blow being the mountain wave that apparently took them out.

[scottfromiowa]

I take maintenance for my aircraft very seriously and don't know any owners personally that do not want to ensure their plane is well maintained and "safe" mechanically for flight. I sump and visually inspect for fuel quality and quantity as well as checking oil/prop etc. during pre-flight.  No exceptions.   Don't stats show running out of gas, VMC into IMC and weather as leading "causes" vs. mechanical specifics?  My old aviation consumer guide to buying used aircraft had Mooney's ranked mid-pack for fatal accidents and "other".  Stalls were NOT a big issue with Mooney aircraft as I recall.  I think the "rusty/currency/fit for flight" issues have some merit based on the rising costs of fuel and operation...I have been flying with my potential future partner more lately and he is flying the plane with me "overseeing"...I found myself high on last couple of approaches based on my being a passenger a little too much lately.  Opportunity/excuse to go fly....that's not all bad.

[M016576]

Regardless- it's a tragedy, if it's either maintenance or skill based...  I hope it's not a sign of complacency on either the maintainers or the pilots- both are equally troubling and tragic to me....

[PTK]

Quote: M016576

Regardless- it's a tragedy, if it's either maintenance or skill based...  I hope it's not a sign of complacency on either the maintainers or the pilots- both are equally troubling and tragic to me....