What Was This Pilot Thinking…

[hammdo]

https://avbrief.com/pilot-abandons-bonanza-after-belly-landing-flies-away-in-second-plane/

 

[EricJ]

Points for style, I guess. 

[MikeOH]

Going to get expensive to keep back-up planes at every airport you gear up at

[Utah20Gflyer]

Maybe the plane had been stolen.  That’s about the only way I can wrap my head around that kind of behavior.  

[Chocol8]

Pilot may want to avoid authorities until he can pass a drug screen?

[EricJ]

14 minutes ago, Chocol8 said:

Pilot may want to avoid authorities until he can pass a drug screen?

I was thinking that might be what he's doing.

 

[McMooney]

nice to have enough money to not worry about trashing planes

[hammdo]

What is something is they know who it is, where he lives, contacted him, and he doesn’t respond! Something is going on… but gear up, leave the plane and take another one so you can pick people up? Yikes, and those folks he picked up said he acted normal…

[Flyler]

I had a gear collapse shortly after touchdown, and while it SUCKED BIG TIME, it was all rather smooth and at no point was I concerned for my physical safety, I was mostly worried about all the dollars flying out the back of the plane.  I said a few times "if we came to a rest next to another Mooney, I would have hopped in and flew that one away."

But I meant that as a joke

[Schllc]

That behavior is really odd, but I agree, there is a reason he is making himself scarce. 
pretty sure cannibis takes min of 8 weeks unless you’re fat.  Not sure for hair or blood.  
It’s obvious he is evading them intentionally. 
I have to believe even a short bit of management before leaving likely would have made this a non issue. 
will be interested when the real story comes out. 

[midlifeflyer]

8 hours ago, Schllc said:

That behavior is really odd, but I agree, there is a reason he is making himself scarce. 
pretty sure cannibis takes min of 8 weeks unless you’re fat.  Not sure for hair or blood.  
It’s obvious he is evading them intentionally. 
I have to believe even a short bit of management before leaving likely would have made this a non issue. 
will be interested when the real story comes out. 

So far, I have not come across a pilot who was asked to take a drug test after a gear up landing.

[N201MKTurbo]

I can’t find a regulation where the FAA can compel a pilot operating under part 91 to take a drug test. Can someone point me to one?

91.17 says you must release any drug test information for a drug test taken within 4 hours of an accident. It says that local law enforcement can compel you to take a test. It doesn’t specifically say the FAA can.

[hammdo]

‘The FAA "catch-all" regulation is 14 CFR § 91.13 - Careless or Reckless Operation, which prohibits operating an aircraft in a manner that endangers the life or property of another’
 

 

[1980Mooney]

On 5/8/2026 at 1:35 PM, Utah20Gflyer said:

Maybe the plane had been stolen.  That’s about the only way I can wrap my head around that kind of behavior.  

Nope.  He owns three (3) planes - the Bonanza, a Mooney M20C and a Cessna 150.

After the incident he hopped into his Mooney and took off.  

Adam's Report: Beechcraft F33A Bonanza, N3688R, incident occurred on May 7, 2026, at Red Bluff Airport (RBL/KRBL), Red Bluff, California, and Mooney M20C Ranger, N3492X, with a three-star GTA wanted level.

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

N3688R Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

N3492X Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

 

[IvanP]

Just curious who cleaned up after him. 

[ragedracer1977]

Other than bad form, is there any actual reg that says he couldn’t leave? 
 

if you’ve got places to be and you only damaged your own plane, what requires you to stick around?

might he have called someone to come get the plane and left? 

[1980Mooney]

2 hours ago, ragedracer1977 said:

Other than bad form, is there any actual reg that says he couldn’t leave? 
 

if you’ve got places to be and you only damaged your own plane, what requires you to stick around?

might he have called someone to come get the plane and left? 

 

5 hours ago, IvanP said:

Just curious who cleaned up after him. 

The Airport Authority/Manager.  That is who is responsible for dealing with any incident/accident that interferes with the safe operation of the runway.

The more I think about this, it sounds like a story that has been embellished for click-bait.  Police looking for him? - sounds like BS.  More likely he talked to the airport manager and his insurance company before jumping into his Mooney and leaving.

The Airport Authority is responsible for shutting down the airport runway when it is unsafe and responsible for getting it back into operation.  

The pilot of any plane in distress on an active runway may or may not be the owner.  It could be in an LLC and the pilot is not a managing partner.  It could be a foreign registry.  Or a rental.  Or loaned to a pilot.  

The Airport Authority/Manager is not going to waste time searching for the legal owner of a plane before taking action.  And the owner of the plane cannot take over and block the runway while trying to hire lift services - nor can outside services enter the airport without the consent/direction of the Airport Manager.

 

 

[Chocol8]

On 5/8/2026 at 10:04 PM, Schllc said:

That behavior is really odd, but I agree, there is a reason he is making himself scarce. 
pretty sure cannibis takes min of 8 weeks unless you’re fat.  Not sure for hair or blood.  
It’s obvious he is evading them intentionally. 
I have to believe even a short bit of management before leaving likely would have made this a non issue. 
will be interested when the real story comes out. 

I am not suggesting it is cannabis specifically or even any illicit drug. I think there are a LOT of pilots flying on prescription meds the FAA would frown on as well.  CAMI is feared for good reason. 
 

 

[kortopates]

With the global reach of Mooneyspace i am surprised no one local to incident hasn’t replied with the rest of the story.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EricJ]

13 hours ago, ragedracer1977 said:

Other than bad form, is there any actual reg that says he couldn’t leave? 
 

if you’ve got places to be and you only damaged your own plane, what requires you to stick around?

might he have called someone to come get the plane and left? 

Depending on the local ordinances and definitions of "accident" there may be an issue with leaving the scene of an accident.

[Schllc]

5 hours ago, Chocol8 said:

I am not suggesting it is cannabis specifically or even any illicit drug. I think there are a LOT of pilots flying on prescription meds the FAA would frown on as well.  CAMI is feared for good reason. 
 

 

I know, was just commenting on the futility of evading for those reasons. 
he obviously did not want to be talked to at the scene, this much is all we really know. 
 

[bonal]

Strange indeed,  looking at the flight profile for the Bonanza look like he took off from red bluff flew around in circles for a few minutes then I guess did the gear up.  The Mooney flight was even more interesting shows a six minute climb from 1275 feet to 20400 then down to I think it was around 7000 speed was above 190 knots in level flight.  UKI is just a stone throw away from me and I can tell you there was no kind weather that could have contributed to that kind of performance that day 

[chunko]

On 5/9/2026 at 10:45 PM, ragedracer1977 said:

Other than bad form, is there any actual reg that says he couldn’t leave? 

Nah, the FAA doesn't really care about stuff like that.

I always tell my students that when you exercise your privileges, you need to worry about the FAA and the FBI, and for completely different reasons.

[AndreiC]

On 5/10/2026 at 5:03 PM, bonal said:

Strange indeed,  looking at the flight profile for the Bonanza look like he took off from red bluff flew around in circles for a few minutes then I guess did the gear up.  The Mooney flight was even more interesting shows a six minute climb from 1275 feet to 20400 then down to I think it was around 7000 speed was above 190 knots in level flight.  UKI is just a stone throw away from me and I can tell you there was no kind weather that could have contributed to that kind of performance that day 

All I could find by looking at the ADS-B data of the M20C (second plane he flew) looked ok, except that most of the time he was not reporting altitude correctly, and only the speed was recorded. (The blue graph.) The 20400 feet signal must have been a fluke. I did not see any speeds close to 190. 

[bonal]

Was sure I was looking at the KPH column on the track log my bad…audios