"Un-Happy Endings" For Flight to Oshkosh

[1980Mooney]

It appears that a trip from Albuquerque Double Eagle to attend Oshkosh ended badly for Mooney M20J, N555ED.  It landed at Appleton (KATW), 16 nm to the North of KOSH, , on the morning of Sunday, July 21, the day before AirVenture started.  It appears to have immediately taxied to a grass tiedown area. 

Yesterday afternoon it taxied from the grass tie down area but stopped near some hangars.    FAA reports that the Mooney "struck other aircraft" (2?..more?) with both its left and right wings while taxiing.

 Crowding due to the insanity of AirVenture?  Poor taxiway conditions? Stuck throttle?  All of the above?!

The long return trip will be somber - either commercial or ferry permit.

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Edited July 26 by 1980Mooney

[LANCECASPER]

Crowding due to the insanity of AirVenture?  Poor taxiway conditions? Stuck throttle?  All of the above?!
The long return trip will be somber - either commercial or ferry permit.

Not only for the M20J owner, but for the other aircraft involved.

In 1997 I was visiting family in Minnesota and flew over Fon Du Lac, WI for the day to catch the shuttle bus up to Oshkosh.




When I got back late that afternoon to Fon Du Lac as the bus was taking us out to the area where I was parked (grass) I saw people standing everywhere and airplane parts strewn everywhere. An airplane forgot to untie his tail and kept adding power until it let loose. When it did he spun around and took out the nearest five airplanes I believe.
My one year old Mooney Bravo was one airplane away from the carnage, but untouched. I almost felt guilty climbing in and leaving . . . almost. .  lol. I was very relieved though and thought later about what a hassle it would have been for all of those people to get home and get their claims processed. Steve Myers has a shop over at Oshkosh (Myers Aviation) and I found out years later that he ended up repairing at least a couple of those airplanes.
Although it would be fun and an adventure (or airventure) to fly into Oshkosh and stay right on the field, reading about the ground incidents and landing mishaps that happen every year and last year an experimental dropping out of the sky and totaling a Mooney, I am satisfied to pick an alternate way of getting there every couple years to get my Airventure fix. It's fun to watch the airshow, I just don't want to be a part of it.  
 

[Rmnpilot]

Im based at ATW and outside of the grass area where the plane was taxing, its all cirrus lined up with the mains in the grass and the nose on asphalt.   I was at my hangar most of the day yesterday and heard nothing about it.  

[Echo]

Those near are REALLY close to that taxiway.  Definitly an exposure.  Agree with you on flying into Oshkosh.  Seth's incident while being ground guided made me think twice about Oshkosh as a bucket list item.  I had flown into Appleton that year.  Have done it a couple times, but didn't like the grass tie downs.  I have family in nearby Randolph.  Oshkosh always seems to be a week with a severe evening thunderstorm.  Juice not worth the squeeze for me.

[jlunseth]

A fellow Angel Flight pilot flew me to Appleton last year, and from there we bused to Oshkosh. I was there to receive the Distinguished Volunteer Pilot award from the NAA. It was supposed to happen in front of the crowd for the afternoon airshow. But as we got ready to make the walk out to the stage we all saw smoke to the south. It was the gyro/helicopter crash last year, one of five accidents as I understand it. The awards were moved to another area. There are issues every year. Pilots who maybe don't belong in that kind of traffic. That was my one and only voyage to Oshkosh, made me think I would never want to fly in.

[N201MKTurbo]

I have landed at Oshkosh three times. It is an intense bit of flying for an experienced pilot. There are a lot of less experienced pilots who make the trek. It's a wonder there aren't more accidents.

On my last trip there I got damaged taxiing. It bent the crap out of my lower gear door. I noticed that my airspeeds were low, but continued IFR to my first fuel stop two hours away. I borrowed a pair of pliers and straightened it out. It flew fine after that. 

BTW, I have driven there once. I flew into Wisconsin Dells with the family and drove to Oshkosh twice. And I flew into Fond Du Lac and took the bus once.

[MooneyMitch]

I was fortunate to hangar the Mooney the 3 times flying to AirVenture. 

[1980Mooney]

2 hours ago, Rmnpilot said:

Im based at ATW and outside of the grass area where the plane was taxing, its all cirrus lined up with the mains in the grass and the nose on asphalt.   I was at my hangar most of the day yesterday and heard nothing about it.  

It occurred Wednesday, July 24 at 12:45 PM.  Also earlier on Wednesday, at 8:21 AM, a Cirrus SR22T wingtip struck the front of a Lancair LC-40-550 (actually built as an early Cessna model) while taxiing in the same general area at KATW.

Using map and GPS satellite scale, some of those taxiways might only be 38-40 ft wide.  From your picture I can see how a Cirrus with 38 ft wingspan might drift off centerline to one side if the pilot is not vigilant or is trying to avoid something on the other side.   It is harder to understand how a 35 ft wingspan Mooney could hit planes on both sides with both wings unless it over reacted/ over corrected after striking the first rather than stopping.  Sounds like speed might be a factor.

Still the parking density is inviting trouble.

 

[Rmnpilot]

So I will note this. The yellow line that is shown in the photos was covered with black seal coat by the time I arrived about noon yesterday. I had taken the photo on Tuesday at 5 pm. I even commented to a friend asking if he knew what happened. The yellow line is great when you have no other aircraft parked in weird spots. Maybe the pilot was simply following the taxi lines and oblivious to his actions.


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