N2674W, 1966 M20E, "Oil Door Popped Open" on Take-Off - KPDK Peachtree Dekalb

[1980Mooney]

FAA ASIAS reports runway overrun on landing.  Pilot sounds calm on Tower LiveATC but obviously struggled with trying to land twice.  Not clear if there was any damage but plane did not fly again - not a simple "close door and take off again". 

Wind was not a factor - Tower said "09 at 3 knots".  

He told the Tower his "oil door popped open" and he asked for a "tear drop" back to the 3L 4,000 ft runway that he took off from on 21R.  With baro at 30.04 it looks like the got to about 500 ft AGL in the turn.  The problem was that when he turned Final and was about 1,100 ft from the threshold (over Dresden Rd) he was at about 300 ft. AGL doing 87 knots and descending at -1,088 fpm.  10 seconds later he was over the runway (about 400 ft past the threshold) and was still at about 200 ft AGL doing 79 knots and descending at -960 fpm.  He was unable to land on 3L and asked for another "teardrop" back to 21R.

• Tower asked him if he wanted to declare an Emergency.  He responded "No".
• Tower told him 16 was also available but he said he wanted to stay on 21R.  Note that 21L was 6,000 ft long.  He did not ask for it.
• In the 2nd teardrop he got to about 500 ft. AGL but got rather slow - mostly at 66 knots but as low as 63 knots.
  • I calculated that he was in a 32 degree bank on about a 630 ft. radius turn
• But then he came screaming in on Final - at about 500 ft from the threshold, he was actually accelerating to 90 knots while at about 100 ft. AGL and increasing his descent to -640 fpm.
  • It looks like he was forcing it into the runway. 

There are several topics on the "impossible turn...the impossible 180" with an engine out.  This is a case of two (2) 180's with the engine running perfectly.  

• Something as simple as an oil door open can create a helmet fire.

Runway excursion Incident Mooney M20E N2674W, Tuesday 23 September 2025

N2674W Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a29bf7&lat=33.879&lon=-84.292&zoom=14.5&showTrace=2025-09-24&trackLabels&timestamp=1758673097

ATC Audio Archives | LiveATC.net  Go to KPDK Tower #1 on the 23 at 00:00Z-03:00Z.  Starts about 15 minutes in with take-off.

 

Edited 8 hours ago by 1980Mooney

[N201MKTurbo]

Sad. Should have just flown a regular pattern and ignored the door.

[1980Mooney]

8 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Sad. Should have just flown a regular pattern and ignored the door.

I just noticed that he got as slow as 56 knots in his first 180 turn - and it was a tight as the second - probably a 30 degree bank or more.   I bet his stall horn was going off. 

He was probably fixated on the oil door that was up or flopping in the wind.  He is lucky.

 

[ArtVandelay]

I had this happen, the door didn’t flop around, IIRC it just stayed open.

[McMooney]

wth, mine popped open a few times due to bad latches, it's NOT exciting at all

[00-Negative]

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Forgot to latch the oil door. On takeoff roll, it flipped open. Made the pattern and landed.  My initial instinct was to position the plane in such a way using pitch and rudder that the wind might not rip the door  hinge apart. But then a more reasonable voice came into my head and gently reminded me in a harsh way to fly the plane and not kill myself over a replaceable oil access door. I landed and taxied over near my hangar and shut down. I Decided to grab a bottle of water while I was shut down. Went to take off and on take off roll the damn thing was still open! This time I pulled the throttle  at around 10ft agl and landed on the remaining runway, shut it down and closed the oil access door for real this time. 

 

-David

[201er]

1 hour ago, 1980Mooney said:

I just noticed that he got as slow as 56 knots in his first 180 turn - and it was a tight as the second - probably a 30 degree bank or more.   I bet his stall horn was going off. 

He was probably fixated on the oil door that was up or flopping in the wind.  He is lucky.

Really lucky. Sounds like he wasn't far from being another door pop stall fatality statistic.

[EricJ]

A buddy had one of the latches on the cowl of his Cherokee fail and he lost the top half of the cowl in the pattern.   It flipped up and landed flat agains the leading edge of one of the wings for a while, and then fell off into a neighborhood, never to be seen again.   He just flew it as normal, told the tower his cowl came off (the tower guy had seen it and told him about where it landed), and returned to the field without further incident.    It put a dent in one of the wing tanks, which isn't too difficult to replace on a Cherokee.   Took a trip to one of the BAS yards and he was back in business.

It is sad when something that could be, and should be, a non-event, isn't.