Mooney down In Ocoee National Forest, Reliance TN

[TNIndy]

M20 went down this afternoon. Two aboard. Search crews are looking for the site

[TNIndy]

Unfortunately there were three aboard and none survived

https://www.local3news.com/local-news/polk-co-crews-search-for-downed-mooney-m20-in-the-oconee-chattahoochie-national-forest/article_bca57b6c-e6fb-4e84-afc4-5fd51d66ef31.html

[1980Mooney]

https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/496358

 

M20F N7026V

 

[mike_elliott]

If anyone knew Jonathan Shelley or knows if he has a surviving spouse and their contact info, kindly DM me.

EDIT, it appears the pilot was Jeffery Blane Maneth.

[Jeff Uphoff]

Ouch. Weather wasn’t the best around these parts yesterday.  

[hammdo]

Wow, even with the roll cage. Hard to even speculate what happened. 

-Don

[1980Mooney]

N7026V - 1976 M20F

N7026V | 1976 MOONEY M20F EXEC 21 on Aircraft.com

Current listed owner bought the Mooney in early 2023.  It is registered in the name of CLEAR AYR, LLC and based in Texarkana.

This was the third flight of the day on a cross-country that started about 5 hours earlier from Hot Springs.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a95f3a&lat=35.260&lon=-84.510&zoom=15.0&showTrace=2025-04-11&trackLabels&timestamp=1744394565

I listened to the archives of LiveATC for Chatanooga Tower/APCH where he took off about 20 minutes before the crash.  The tower was saying that their weather radar was not working well and they kept asking everyone for weather reports.  Pilots reported light rime ice from 7,500 to 10,000 ft.  The pilot had filed - Squawk was 5137 and the FMS on ADSB shows he filed for 7,000 ft.  I heard the Tower clear him for takeoff.  I did not hear any emergency preceding the crash, but the pilot may have flipped over to Atlanta Center by the time of the accident.  I can't find it.

It appears to be a stall/spin. 

• Oddly, his speed accelerated from 154 kts to 185 kts over a 40 second period while remaining level at 6,950 ft barometric.  
• Then over the next 4 seconds he descended 1,000 ft while maintaining 173 kts.
• Then over the next 5 seconds he started descending about -15,000 FPM to -18,000 FPM and ground speed deteriorated to 54 kts while turning 180 degrees direction of travel.
• Then over the next 3 seconds he was descending over -19,000 FPM and ground speed was 237 kts.  If I did the trig right, the was 190 kts vertical and 237 kts horizontal = 304 kts speed through the air. ( Note: That was at about 3,600 ft so the IAS would be about 282 kts)
• Then over the next seven (7) seconds he accelerated to 252 kts. groundspeed while still descending at -11,000 FPM.  He reduced his descent to about -2,200 FPM and ground speed to about 230 kts while turning right.
• In the last recorded second, he turned about 180 degrees right again, his ground speed deteriorated to 45 kts and his descent accelerated to -12,800 FPM.

The listed owner of CLEAR AYR, LLC is not Instrument rated per FAA Airman Registry.  On his Twitter/X page, his logo shows a picture of him in front of N7026V.  Oddly the State of Texas shows CLEAR AYR, LLC to be "Inactive" and a "tax forfeiture" in 2024. - so it is not clear who was flying.

Edited Saturday at 07:26 PM by 1980Mooney

[DCarlton]

2 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

N7026V - 1976 M20F

N7026V | 1976 MOONEY M20F EXEC 21 on Aircraft.com

Current listed owner bought the Mooney in early 2023.  It is registered in the name of CLEAR AYR, LLC and based in Texarkana.

This was the third flight of the day on a cross-country that started about 5 hours earlier from Hot Springs.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a95f3a&lat=35.260&lon=-84.510&zoom=15.0&showTrace=2025-04-11&trackLabels&timestamp=1744394565

I listened to the archives of LiveATC for Chatanooga Tower/APCH where he took off about 20 minutes before the crash.  The tower was saying that their weather radar was not working well and they kept asking everyone for weather reports.  Pilots reported light rime ice from 7,500 to 10,000 ft.  The pilot had filed - Squawk was 5137 and the FMS on ADSB shows he filed for 7,000 ft.  I heard the Tower clear him for takeoff.  I did not hear any emergency preceding the crash, but the pilot may have flipped over to Atlanta Center by the time of the accident.  I can't find it.

It appears to be a stall/spin. 

• Oddly, his speed accelerated from 154 kts to 185 kts over a 40 second period while remaining level at 6,950 ft barometric.  
• Then over the next 4 seconds he descended 1,000 ft while maintaining 173 kts.
• Then over the next 5 seconds he started descending about -15,000 FPM to -18,000 FPM and ground speed deteriorated to 54 kts while turning 180 degrees direction of travel.
• Then over the next 3 seconds he was descending over -19,000 FPM and ground speed was 237 kts.  If I did the trig right, the was 190 kts vertical and 237 kts horizontal = 304 kts speed through the air. ( Note: That was at about 3,600 ft so the IAS would be about 282 kts)
• Then over the next seven (7) seconds he accelerated to 252 kts. groundspeed while still descending at -11,000 FPM.  He reduced his descent to about -2,200 FPM and ground speed to about 230 kts while turning right.
• In the last recorded second, he turned about 180 degrees right again, his ground speed deteriorated to 45 kts and his descent accelerated to -12,800 FPM.

The listed owner of CLEAR AYR, LLC is not Instrument rated per FAA Airman Registry.  On his Twitter/X page, his logo shows a picture of him in front of N7026V.  Oddly the State of Texas shows CLEAR AYR, LLC to be "Inactive" and a "tax forfeiture" in 2024. - so it is not clear who was flying.

Somewhere between your second bullet and the third bullet there's a stall?  Speculation is icing, extreme turbulence or disorientation?  Is 15K fpm consistent with a power on nose down attitude?  I didn't try to do the math.  

[Hank]

1 hour ago, DCarlton said:

Somewhere between your second bullet and the third bullet there's a stall?  Speculation is icing, extreme turbulence or disorientation?  Is 15K fpm consistent with a power on nose down attitude?  I didn't try to do the math.  

15K fpm = 170 mph = 148 knots, vertical speed. Add in 54 knots forward groundspeed, he was moving. Full throttle steep descent?

I've practiced emergency descent, but never above 2000 fpm, and that was dramatic (45° bank, cruise throttle, falling out of the sky).

If the pitot ices over, doesn't airspeed act as an altimeter? So it wouldn't show the increased airspeed as he pointed down due to ice on the wings and tail. In fact, the tail would ice up before the wing due to smaller leading edge radius, lose lift and allow the nose to drop. I've never experienced a tail stall, and no thank you, don't want to try one.

If he wasn't IFR rated and got Spatial D as the plane iced up, no telling what the flight path and speed would become, but the end result would be this . . . .  

[Nico1]

Very sad.

Looks like Autopilot was on up to the first turn at least (looking at track/altitude). Maybe trying to deviate around a cell?

Having a look at the wx data for yesterday, the area looked dreadful: icing with bases 070/040, convective activity and TS. 

[Nico1]

Radar at the time

[1980Mooney]

 

5 hours ago, Nico1 said:

Very sad.

Looks like Autopilot was on up to the first turn at least (looking at track/altitude). Maybe trying to deviate around a cell?

Having a look at the wx data for yesterday, the area looked dreadful: icing with bases 070/040, convective activity and TS. 

 

6 hours ago, DCarlton said:

Somewhere between your second bullet and the third bullet there's a stall?  Speculation is icing, extreme turbulence or disorientation?  Is 15K fpm consistent with a power on nose down attitude?  I didn't try to do the math.  

I noticed that the ADSB showed his FMS set for 7,000 ft and 78-degree heading.  I suspected that he had a modern digital autopilot for ADSB to receive that information but the 2019 Aircraft.com listing did not show anything but a legacy panel with a GNS-430W and a Apollo GX50 autopilot.  However, I found a newer listing (probably 2022-23) with a new panel and a GFC500 (it was listed as "7026V" instead of N7026V).   7026V | 1976 MOONEY M20F on Aircraft.com

It shows:

"New Custom Garmin Panel by JA Air Center including: Garmin GMA345 audio panel Garmin G3X 10” PFD/MFD Garmin GTN650TXI Garmin Safe Glide Garmin EIS system CiES Fuel Senders Garmin G5 Garmin GFC500 – autopilot w/ R,P,T Garmin GTX345ADSB Garmin GNC255A Nav/Com Garmin GAE12 Encoder Garmin USB"

I suspect the pilot was relying heavily on the Garmin autopilot (maybe exclusively if it was the LLC owner who is not Instrument rated per FAA Airman).

I am simply speculating that it was icing with a power-on stall.  If he was in the clag he may not have noticed the thickness or effect of the ice - as the plane labored to lift and the autopilot continued to pitch up to maintain altitude until it broke and stalled.  He wound up going the other direction and mainly down.  That happened twice but the plane may have been shedding control surfaces before the second 180.

Just an opinion.....

 

New Panel (2022 or 2023)

Old Panel (2019)

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:43 AM by 1980Mooney

[kortopates]

Pilot was on an IFR flight plan to Burlington NC. They were on the ground for 40 minutes before starting this flight that ended in about 18 minutes. About 12 minutes to climb up to 7000' only after 7 minutes of cruise it was over. Was the pilot able to get a wx briefing before departure (if only self brief)? 

Does look like spatial D but could have just as easily been LOC from icing.  Hope the preliminary offers some insights.

3 people gone - so sad.

[1980Mooney]

25 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Pilot was on an IFR flight plan to Burlington NC. They were on the ground for 40 minutes before starting this flight that ended in about 18 minutes. About 12 minutes to climb up to 7000' only after 7 minutes of cruise it was over. Was the pilot able to get a wx briefing before departure (if only self brief)? 

Does look like spatial D but could have just as easily been LOC from icing.  Hope the preliminary offers some insights.

3 people gone - so sad.

Found this on Beechtalk.  At the beginning of the tape they direct N7026V to contact Knoxville (and he responds).  At about 3:30 they are calling 26V with no reponse.  At 3:50 they announce that radar service for 26V is lost and to report position.  Nothing else is heard.  There is no "mayday".

archive.liveatc.net/ktys/KTYS-Apr-11-2025-1800Z.mp3

Edited Sunday at 02:45 AM by 1980Mooney
Noted that pilot responded to initial contact.

[1980Mooney]

16 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Pilot was on an IFR flight plan to Burlington NC. They were on the ground for 40 minutes before starting this flight that ended in about 18 minutes. About 12 minutes to climb up to 7000' only after 7 minutes of cruise it was over. Was the pilot able to get a wx briefing before departure (if only self brief)? 

Does look like spatial D but could have just as easily been LOC from icing.  Hope the preliminary offers some insights.

3 people gone - so sad.

With that fancy panel, he should have been able to get DataLink weather via FIS-B.  And if he had an iPad with GarminPilot of Foreflight then he should have been able to get a snapshot of the route while in the terminal.

[kortopates]

With that fancy panel, he should have been able to get DataLink weather via FIS-B.  And if he had an iPad with GarminPilot of Foreflight then he should have been able to get a snapshot of the route while in the terminal.

Agreed, but if he didn’t get a rather complete briefing i suspect he would be too busy after departure to see airmets. But he could have been doing that before he landed at Chattanooga.

The thing that makes we question LOC from icing is that the aircraft never got slow before losing control. Once level it sped up to 183 kts grnd speed before what appears to be LOC. So Now i am wondering if it was severe turbulence as in convective clouds.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[201er]

51 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Does look like spatial D but could have just as easily been LOC from icing.  Hope the preliminary offers some insights.

3 people gone - so sad.

Why would a non-instrument rated pilot file IFR? Or go into clouds? Especially with passengers?

[1980Mooney]

44 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Agreed, but if he didn’t get a rather complete briefing i suspect he would be too busy after departure to see airmets. But he could have been doing that before he landed at Chattanooga.

The thing that makes we question LOC from icing is that the aircraft never got slow before losing control. Once level it sped up to 183 kts grnd speed before what appears to be LOC. So Now i am wondering if it was severe turbulence as in convective clouds.
 

Agreed.  I found the 29 kts increase in speed (Over the span of 42 seconds) while remaining at constant altitude very strange.  How can a Mooney go from a steady 153 kts cruise speed (likely wide open cruise for an M20F with 201 mods) to 183 kts in such a short time?  Was he in a massive updraft?...And his autopilot lowered the nose/AOA to maintain altitude?  (essentially diving in the relative wind?)  Or just a massive localized tail wind?

 

Edited Sunday at 03:39 AM by 1980Mooney

[1980Mooney]

11 minutes ago, 201er said:

Why would a non-instrument rated pilot file IFR? Or go into clouds? Especially with passengers?

We don't know that to be the case.  But it would not be the first time.   Here is one, actually a Mooney pilot, whose bone headed illegal IFR flight made an AVweb write-up.

Probable Cause #61: Illegal IFR Flight - AVweb

In the crash of N7026V, it is pure speculation because the Owner of  CLEAR AYR, LLC is not listed as Instrument Rated on the FAA Airman.  He might be newly minted and posting in the database is behind.  The plane might have been sold (the LLC is "inactive" and listed as "tax forfeiture" by the Texas Sec. of State). There might be an IFR rated pilot in the right seat.  Dont know.

[1980Mooney]

5 hours ago, Hank said:

In fact, the tail would ice up before the wing due to smaller leading edge radius, lose lift and allow the nose to drop. I've never experienced a tail stall, and no thank you, don't want to try one.

 

Good point.  Tail stall recovery is just the opposite of a wing stall. If the tail stalled and he thought it was the wing, then he would have done just the opposite and pushed the nose down.

Tailplane Stall Recovery:

• -Pull back on the yoke
• -Reduce Flaps
• -Reduce Power: This is aircraft specific based on engine location in relation to CG and how power changes angle of attack. (Engines mounted above the CG will create a stronger pitching down moment as power increases)

Edited Sunday at 03:53 AM by 1980Mooney

[Ragsf15e]

41 minutes ago, 1980Mooney said:

Agreed.  I found the 29 kts increase in speed (Over the span of 42 seconds) while remaining at constant altitude very strange.  How can a Mooney go from a steady 153 kts cruise speed (likely wide open cruise for an M20F with 201 mods) to 183 kts in such a short time?  Was he in a massive updraft?...And his autopilot lowered the nose/AOA to maintain altitude?  (essentially diving in the relative wind?)  Or just a massive localized tail wind?

 

I don’t even think it takes a “massive” updraft to do that. Strong for sure, but in convective turbulence, i think that kind of speed increase is definitely possible.

[Hank]

4 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

I don’t even think it takes a “massive” updraft to do that. Strong for sure, but in convective turbulence, i think that kind of speed increase is definitely possible.

I didn't look at the ASI enough to remember, but in smooth IMC I hit an updraft, pushed on the yoke (about 10° nose down), retarded throttle and was still climbing at 1500 fpm. If he was in turbulent IMC with icing, anything bad is possible . . . .

[Schllc]

Adsb is merely a reporting of the airplanes data. 
if a pitot and or static port iced over the data it was reporting could be inaccurate. 
and icing could take a plane down it under a minute quite easily, it would have to be severe, but absolutely possible. I have seen it with my own two eyes. 
instruments not affected by icing like gps and engine data would be ok, anything relying on pitot-static system could be suspect for accuracy.  I’m pretty sure Adsb uses gps for speed, not ias or tas. 
this is a sad story, and I certainly hope the pilot was not flying ifr illegally…

 

[1980Mooney]

Middle Tennesse State University Athletics Dept. is reporting that one of their student golfers, his father (the owner of the CLEAR AYR, LLC registered owner of N7026V) and his grandfather, all of Texarkana, perished in the crash.  Three generations …very sad.

 

Edited Sunday at 04:37 AM by 1980Mooney

[Blueskiez]

One was a highly accomplished career pilot who still probably flys around 300 hours a year I bet with an ATP/CFI and another private pilot along with someone else.  The news article says they were traveling to visit the grandson so just 2 generations.