N242RE Mooney Acclaim 3 fatalities Sparta, TN 4/26/2025

[Ragsf15e]

There might be fuel at the crash site and still be a fuel event… Ive forgotten to change to my fullest tank at the beginning of the descent before and landed with something like 2 or 3 gallons in the selected tank.  20 in the “not selected” tank.  I wasn’t happy with myself for that one. It’s right there on my checklist.

lose the engine or stall on the ILS and you probably won’t recover.

[IvanP]

8 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

There might be fuel at the crash site and still be a fuel event… Ive forgotten to change to my fullest tank at the beginning of the descent before and landed with something like 2 or 3 gallons in the selected tank.  20 in the “not selected” tank.  I wasn’t happy with myself for that one. It’s right there on my checklist.

lose the engine or stall on the ILS and you probably won’t recover.

Amen to that. I recall flying practice approaches with a friend some years ago. Intercepted localizer and glideslope on what appeared to be a "perfect" ILS approach only to have the engine sputter on short final. Quick switch to the other tank fixed it, but the "perfect" approach was totally ruined by the pucker factor. We refueled and one tank was completely dry. "Never Again" story that we are both lucky to be alive to tell. Not much time to fiddle with fuel switch this close to the ground. 

[exM20K]

12 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

There might be fuel at the crash site and still be a fuel event… Ive forgotten to change to my fullest tank at the beginning of the descent before and landed with something like 2 or 3 gallons in the selected tank.  20 in the “not selected” tank.  I wasn’t happy with myself for that one. It’s right there on my checklist.

lose the engine or stall on the ILS and you probably won’t recover.

Maybe, but not likely.  In addition to the annunciator panel red fuel low warning, there is an indication on the G1000 MFD, and, most importantly, there is a blinking red master warning right above the master switches and just left of the PFD. It is deliberately annoying and hard to miss.

 

Regarding the evident steep dive on final:

There was a mishap in an acclaim during which the pilot reported uncommanded pitch trim activation. Final Report here, but the  investigators were unable to duplicate later.

If the NTSB does investigate, and I  hope they do, it is beneficial that the plane's wreckage didn't burn, and maybe there is something left to point to a probable cause.  If, for example, they find the carcass of a turkey vulture inside the cabin or the pilot's seat locks disengaged, maybe there can be some closure here.

-dan

[LANCECASPER]

3 hours ago, exM20K said:

Maybe, but not likely.  In addition to the annunciator panel red fuel low warning, there is an indication on the G1000 MFD, and, most importantly, there is a blinking red master warning right above the master switches and just left of the PFD. It is deliberately annoying and hard to miss.

 

Regarding the evident steep dive on final:

There was a mishap in an acclaim during which the pilot reported uncommanded pitch trim activation. Final Report here, but the  investigators were unable to duplicate later.

If the NTSB does investigate, and I  hope they do, it is beneficial that the plane's wreckage didn't burn, and maybe there is something left to point to a probable cause.  If, for example, they find the carcass of a turkey vulture inside the cabin or the pilot's seat locks disengaged, maybe there can be some closure here.

-dan

It will be interesting to see if this was complied with : https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-313A.pdf https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-314A.pdf

 - - - - 

This (M20-318) could have been the issue  on the 2012 report you reference, which was later addressed :https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-318.pdf  The serial number for the 2012 report airplane fits that range. It doesn't fit the one mentioned in this thread (31-0020).

[redbaron1982]

35 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

It will be interesting to see if this was complied with : https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-313A.pdf https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-314A.pdf

 

This could have been the issue  on the 2012 report you reference, which was later addressed :https://mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-318.pdf

I was not aware of this service bulletin, sounds bad. What's the logic to decide whether something is a SB or an AD?

Edited April 28 by redbaron1982

[Fly Boomer]

24 minutes ago, redbaron1982 said:

I was not aware of this service bulletin, sounds bad. What's the logic to decide whether something is a SB or an AD?

Manufacturer issues SB, FAA issues Airworthiness Directive.  Sometimes FAA creates AD because of SB.

[mike_elliott]

The Mooney Summit's Bill Gilliland foundation has reached out to Mrs. Braun to offer our help. Thanks Steffan for validating the info we needed. Thanks for all the generosity of the Mooney Community that enables us to do this.