Final Out on N123WJ (1987 M20J) Ava Bill Martin Memorial Airport (AVO/KAVO), Ava, MO June 13, 2024

[1980Mooney]

In VMC conditions, N123WJ, a 1987 J with four (4) on board, landed 15 minutes after sunset on the 3,634 ft runway at Ava, MO (KAVO).  He landed on R31 but closest weather showed winds 190 at 7 knots.  He subsequently went off the end of the 3,634 ft.  runway and impacted fence and bushes.  The plane was destroyed with left wing separated at the wing root, The cowling and engine crushed and tail bent/twisted.  Injuries were minor.

Pilot claimed he could not reduce RPM below 1,550 but NTSB found no problem.  They did find the brakes leaking and pads below minimum.  The plane was registered to the owner/pilot in February 2024.

Accident Mooney M20J N123WJ, Thursday 13 June 2024

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/194521/pdf

https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=194521

N123WJ (MOONEY M20J owned by ESKOLA JACOB) Aircraft Registration - FlightAware

[varlajo]

108 knots on half mile final, i.e. 105 correcting for 3 mile tailwind (as per report)? 

[skykrawler]

My airplane had the original rod ends on the throttle and mixture cable until experienced the throttle not reducing the RPM to below about 1000rpm.   Replaced both with the alternate spherical joint (Heim joint).   So its a thing.

Not sure the airplane will actually land with 1500 RPM.

[Will.iam]

On 12/19/2024 at 2:17 PM, 201Steve said:

Mixture cutoff? Case closed

Of Course and that would have helped the most  but what was a contributing factor was having leaking brakes, very bad feeling when you apply the brakes and do not get the deceleration you are expecting. 

[hubcap]

I am usually about 30 knots slower than that at 1/2 mile final. Sounds like all the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up.

[N201MKTurbo]

A hangar neighbor was doing landing practice at a field south of here. He told me about a Mooney with a student and an instructor. They went around 3 times because they couldn’t land on a 3500 foot runway. The blind leading the blind.

[kortopates]

All too common. It seems many new Mooney owners get their initial instruction from their Cessna or Piper instructor with very little Mooney experience and are taught to use much too fast of a final approach speed. We see it at PPP’s too. The same poor instruction leaves the new owner deficient in learning to properly trim the aircraft leaving them unable to slow the aircraft.
I expect the complaint about RPM was a red herring. Not going to be able to get the rpm much lower going over 100 kts with the airspeed turning the prop till the plane slows down.
Add in leaky brakes, worn pads and a tail wind and it just underlines the need to go around when not properly established and stabilized on final.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[201Mooniac]

5 hours ago, kortopates said:

All too common. It seems many new Mooney owners get their initial instruction from their Cessna or Piper instructor with very little Mooney experience and are taught to use much too fast of a final approach speed.

Definitely true, it happened to me.  My checkout was with an instructor who kept telling me to keep my speed up and I couldn't land the plane safely until I flew with Don a few months later.  It definitely pays to have an experienced Mooney instructor for transition training.

[cliffy]

We also see it here with SR22 pilots in training across the field.  SR22 training school always lands long, long float and 

lots of PIOs.  Many can't make the midfield turn off about 4000 down the runway.