Emergency Landing | Baggage Door Blow Off Mid Flight | Model K

[Andy95W]

Congratulations and accolades to all concerned.  @RedSkyFlyer for piloting skill, to his passenger for being a real asset during the experience, and to Al Mooney and the Mooney factory for designing and building such a good (and strong) airplane.

[KB4]

Just curious, Did the passenger hear something unusual?  At 3:30 she turns and looks back and does it again shortly before baggage door departure.  Remind passengers that fly with you often that if anything seems off, let you know.  

[HRM]

Just totally freaked out by this. It could have ended very, very badly.

Kudos for bringing her down (relatively) unscathed and good luck in getting her back in the air.

[Mooney-Shiner]

23 hours ago, kortopates said:

Its probably worth mentioning while we're on this topic that there are few Mooney SB on the emergency baggage door latch that applies to J's and K's to prevent the door from opening in flight and where Mooney's answer to some causes of doors opening in flight years ago and may still be applicable to some Mooneys out there. 

sbm20-239a Baggage Inside Latch Modification.pdf 238.81 kB · 11 downloads sim20-63 Engagement of Baggage Door Mechanism.pdf 34.33 kB · 12 downloads sim20-82 Baggage door inside latch mod.pdf 151.71 kB · 12 downloads

Thank you for posting these.  Does this mean that only J, K, L Mods are affected?

[tomatl]

Great job getting the plane down safely!

 

[GeeBee]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:00 AM, RedSkyFlyer said:

The first question she asked when we got in the cab home was ‘how long do you think it will take until we’re flying her again?’ 

That's a gamer and lifetime keeper!

 

[bonal]

So sorry for you but fantastic job getting down safely. Your priority was in the right place.  Really amazing how much impact force was generated in such a short distance between the two points.  Really brings home how deadly a tail strike is when bailing out of a disabled airplane.  Take pride in your performance and let the insurance company worry about what next. Sadly after seeing your damage assessment it looks like it's their plane now.  Either way good luck moving forward you and yours did good.

[Jim Peace]

Nice job. Can always get another airplane.  And now you have a great bar story. 
 

I don’t know how many times I pulled over in a run up area to get out of the plane and check that I locked the door. 

[steingar]

They say that Mooneys are built stout, but nothing like seeing to believe.  Really nice job of airmanship, putting it down safely with all that damage.

[bonal]

Had ours blow open just after rotation and positive rate. Was quite starting. Made the call on CTAF for immediate return. Torn hinge on door but no airframe damage. Door was latched but not locked. Now it's all the way open or its locked.

[Urs_Wildermuth]

I wonder if a complete tail swap would rectify most of the damage… Maybe @Alan Fox could have an idea where to source one. 

Looking at this it appears to me that the whole tail moving when trim is actuated had a big part in saving this one. 

[Jim Peace]

Let the insurance company deal with it....take the check if offered and go airplane shopping.....

[kortopates]

12 hours ago, ukrsindicat@yahoo.com said:

Thank you for posting these.  Does this mean that only J, K, L Mods are affected?

Correct. The inside emergency latch was introduced in the J & K models and the last update was issued in '88 with wording changes in '89. There are no more recent ones that I can see. There were some retrofit suggestions for earlier models like the F published in MAPA years ago which I believe are the basis for F mod discussed above - but these didn't come from the factory. 

With the last SB M20-239A, the AFMS calls for locking the baggage door to secure it in J's and K's.

[Grandmas Flying Couch]

I don't usually lock the door just make sure it's latched.  Will lock from here on out!  That could have been much worse!  I thought perhaps you were overreacting until I started to wonder if it hit the tail on the way out causing control-ability issues.  Then when you posted pics of it wrapped around counterbalance of elevator, I was surprised at HOW WELL you reacted.  I saw the plane suddenly pitch down and you had to pull that yoke, good job!

[ArtVandelay]

Let the insurance company deal with it....take the check if offered and go airplane shopping.....

What if it’s not been totaled?


Tom

[PT20J]

2 hours ago, kortopates said:

With the last SB M20-239A, the AFMS calls for locking the baggage door to secure it in J's and K's.

I looked at the SB and also my 1994 J AFM and I can't find anything about locking the baggage door. I think it's a good idea though, because after playing with this I cannot see how the darn thing can come open unless one of the handles is not fully closed,and it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you will leave the handle open if you lock it.

Skip

[Davidv]

3 minutes ago, PT20J said:

I looked at the SB and also my 1994 J AFM and I can't find anything about locking the baggage door. I think it's a good idea though, because after playing with this I cannot see how the darn thing can come open unless one of the handles is not fully closed,and it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you will leave the handle open if you lock it.

Skip

You're 100x more knowledgeable on aerodynamics than me, but I have to think it would be pretty easy for the wind pressure to flow over the handle and then curl back underneath and lift the latch?  This happened to another friend with an Ovation.  He claimed it was closed but I'm not so sure...

[Ibra]

28 minutes ago, Davidv said:

I have to think it would be pretty easy for the wind pressure to flow over the handle and then curl back underneath and lift the latch?  This happened to another friend with an Ovation.  He claimed it was closed but I'm not so sure...

Doesn't that require some specific flying profile?
- At slow speeds, I am sure many aircraft on which that went open was because of vibration/acceleration on takeoff or taxi than pure aerodynamic forces 
- At high cruise speeds, I would think the trigger is more resonance/flutter? or sideslip? or just air vibrations? doubt it goes with smooth airflow flowing around 

While aircraft is upressurized there is still a small pressure difference between inside/out, if it gets unlocked, it will go open and just blow up 
Will try pushing mine from inside/outside in cycles to see it that is enough to get it loose?

Edited June 2, 2020 by Ibra

[Jim Peace]

1 hour ago, ArtVandelay said:

What if it’s not been totaled?


Tom

pray for an isolated tornado

[RedSkyFlyer]

I thought I would share the take off and landing into & out of Charlton Park. (private estate of The Earl of Sussex & Berkshire, not too shabby!) 

As you can see both were bumpy but nothing unusual for a grass strip, most notably the hatch door remains shut. 

[Guest]

Assuming that the plane has adequate insurance, I doubt the damage will lead to a write off by the insurance company.  Either a replacement tail section, which might be a challenge in Europe, or more likely a repair/rebuild of the existing.

Clarence

Edited June 2, 2020 by M20Doc

[PT20J]

3 hours ago, Davidv said:

You're 100x more knowledgeable on aerodynamics than me, but I have to think it would be pretty easy for the wind pressure to flow over the handle and then curl back underneath and lift the latch?  This happened to another friend with an Ovation.  He claimed it was closed but I'm not so sure...

Interesting idea. But, let’s think about it.  One thing about air is it just doesn’t like to flow backwards. Air flows from high to low pressure, so to get the air to reverse course, there would have to be a strong source if suction behind the handle. But this would tend to hold the handle closed rather than open it.  And, if the air did reverse course and get under the handle somehow, where would it go? The depression that the handle rests in would be a dead end. And, air at Mooney speeds is essentially incompressible, so it won’t “bunch up” in there. Since it can’t get out and it can’t compress, it won’t go in and it won’t reverse flow. 

Skip

[RobertGary1]

4 hours ago, PT20J said:

I looked at the SB and also my 1994 J AFM and I can't find anything about locking the baggage door. I think it's a good idea though, because after playing with this I cannot see how the darn thing can come open unless one of the handles is not fully closed,and it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you will leave the handle open if you lock it.

Skip

Not only do I not lock mine, I rigged a pull ring on the inside to unlatch it. I'm not going to burn in a plane when a perfectly good door is locked. I agree if he door does open in flight it would be irritating but not a great concern.

 

-Robert

[tomatl]

I rewatched the video again today, and I am still impressed about the great airmanship of the crew! Really well done! 

Question to the community: on my K, I always lock the baggage door before each flight. It’s on my checklist after reading about incidents such as this one. However, there are also good reasons not to lock it (supporting rescue, not fully trusting the inside escape mechanism, access to life support equipment, etc.) What is the balance of arguments, lock or not lock?

[kortopates]

7 hours ago, PT20J said:

I looked at the SB and also my 1994 J AFM and I can't find anything about locking the baggage door. I think it's a good idea though, because after playing with this I cannot see how the darn thing can come open unless one of the handles is not fully closed,and it's unlikely (though not impossible) that you will leave the handle open if you lock it.

Skip

I agree with you that its really hard to imagine how they can open in flight if fully latched shut, but we continue to see these incidents in cruise where the pilots swears it was shut and I believe them since a non-latched door usually opens up on the takeoff run or right after liftoff.

On locking the door - see step 5 below from the AFMS for the baggage door from SB 239-A - that's a pic of the required decal that's suppose to go on the baggage door.