Emergency Landing on Roadway

[co2bruce]

Another of our Mooneys made an Emergency landing on a roadway near the airport here in South Florida. First, it appears pilot and passenger are fine " both walked away". The news reported  engine failure was the reason, but I do not know if they got that from the pilot, or witnesses. If anyone knows the pilot or family it appears they are OK. I do not know if he is on this board, but great job landing and keeping everyone safe. Please was on route from Georgia to South FLorida.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-small-plane-crash-brief-20120519,0,7223991.story1965 Mooney M20 C    

 

 

 

N2610W  Acording to the reports

 

 

[jetdriven]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-small-plane-crash-brief-20120519,0,7223991.story

 

I suppose in Miami there are few better options.  Interested to see what the resultsof the investigation are.

[DaV8or]

Link to the story posted above.

[Guest]

Thata boy !! Great job Setting her down..........

[bnicolette]

Awesome job getting it down safely!!  Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but if the engine wasn't running, why is the prop buckled on all the blades?  I suppose maybe it could have been just windmilling?  Also, some pretty good precip in the area according to flightaware.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2610W/history/20120519/1213Z/KAHN/KHWO

[co2bruce]

We had lots of precip and thunder storm activity today.

[Dale]

I was doing a little practice in the pattern at North Perry about an hour before this happened.  The weather was getting really bad. Many of the planes had already come in.  This guy did a great job putting it down where he did. Amazing.  He kept the gear up, smart move.

[John Pleisse]

Pretty damn good. Wx or engine failure...no matter what.....that is a victory.

[rainman]

Video clearly shows left main gear was down. Not that it matters.  Nose and right gear may have collapsed on impact or after hitting something (curb?). Wow, that looks like a tight place to put it down, great job.

Ray

[fantom]

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21007516357658/aircraft-makes-emergency-landing-along-road/

Gear was down, pilot did a great job and had luck on his side.

The WX was bad down here, and at the time there was a solid overcast in SoFL. He came from GA, at 9,500 ft. VFR. No fuel leaks at the crash site, and someone knew how to put slings under a Mooney.

[jetdriven]

I wonder if he panicked in the clouds, or just plain ran out of fuel.  According to the Nall Report, some 95% or more engine failures are actually fuel starvation, or fuel exhaustion.    How much fuel does a M20C of that vintage hold?

That route is around 500 NM.  If he was running well ROP and not really keeping track of his fuel he could have run out, or even worse, ran one tank "almost dry" then accidentally ran the other one dry at low altitude.

They were ONE MILE from the airport.

[Dale]

I looked at the video and the left main was down.  Wow, getting it down and not hitting any cars on that roadway is unbelievable.  Doing it with gear down even tougher.  A 1965 m20c appears to have around a 50 to 52 gallon capacity.  I'm not sure if that is all useable.  Trip is around 500 nm.  Not sure what the fuel burn is in an m20c.  I believe this has the 180 lycoming instead off the 200 lycoming and it is carbureted.  It might be close depending on headwinds, useable fuel and if tanks were topped off on departure.

[Dale]

Quote: Dale

I looked at the video and the left main was down.  Wow, getting it down and not hitting any cars on that roadway is unbelievable.  Doing it with gear down even tougher.  A 1965 m20c appears to have around a 50 to 52 gallon capacity.  I'm not sure if that is all useable.  Trip is around 500 nm.  Not sure what the fuel burn is in an m20c.  I believe this has the 180 lycoming instead off the 200 lycoming and it is carbureted.  It might be close depending on headwinds, useable fuel and if tanks were topped off on departure.  I heard the 180 lycoming was a pretty good engine.

[Piloto]

One possible scenario is that he ran out a tank dry while the fuel gauges were indicating fuel in it so he didn't turn the fuel selector to the opposite tank. It is not uncommon for this vintage to have faulty fuel gauges reading when in fact they were empty. 

José

[MARZ]

Don't know but it shows 180 hp on the registration...  high humidty - almost to the desitnation - carb ice?

[jetdriven]

Might be onto something there, Mike.  If they pull the power way back and no carb heat, thats a possibility.... It was certainly humid then.

[flyboy0681]

Like Gary and Dale mentioned, it was a really miserable day down here at that time. The conjectures mentioned here are all very interesting scenarios and each one is plausible.

Let's see what the Feds come up with other than the ubiquitous "pilot error".

 

[fantom]

Why he was north of HWO is also odd, since ATC would always bring him in from the west and have him circle to the north/south/west runway if 9 wasn't in use.

He was probably distracted or confused by the 430 in the panel, the 396 on the yoke, what his DG/HSI was showing him, not to mention the iPad in his lap, and who knows...maybe even paper plates. With all that who has time to switch fuel tanks? ;-)

LOL if you really believe the Feds will have a good answer, Mike.

[jetdriven]

http://www.phoenixaviationmgrs.com/Details.aspx?field=H12142778

[Seth]

Ouch - Byron - I looked at those pictures from Phoenixavation Salvage.  He did a great job walking away with the damage to the wings. 

-Seth