Mooney went down 5 days ago.

[kerry]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130328wikieup-plane-crash-abrk.html

 

I was just told about this one today. Looks like he had the landing gear down.

[kerry]

Sorry,  Just saw it was already posted.

[1964-M20E]

_{It is sad to hear that the mother died in the crash.}

 

_{I do not want to second guess the pilot but there was dirt road not far from the crash.  Maybe it was a last minute diversion to where he landed or maybe he was incapacitated.}

 

_{Also not to speculate but I do not see any prop damage.}

 

_{It was 1960 M20A.}

[FAST FLIGHT OPTIONS LLC]

I wonder what caused the death. The plane looked relatively intact with no substantial forward impact???

[Hank]

Not having forward impact does not mean "safe." The key is acceleration--how fast was he moving forward and down when he hit? How far did the plane go forward/into the ground before each motion stopped? Note the cowling is deflected down, too.

 

Long distance and slow speed = low acceleration, reduced occupant injuries

As stopping distance decreases, acceleration increases; as speed increases for the same stopping distance, acceleration increases.

 

Note both wheels punctured through the top of the wings, nice big holes. There were some significant forces there. Measure distance from first contact to stop.

 

Momentum = mass * velocity squared

Acceleration = speed change/time, which can be approximated using distance [longer distance = longer time to stop]. 60-to-0 in sixty feet hurts; 60-to-0 in forty feet hurts a lot; 100-to-0 in 40 feet kills.

 

The presence/absence of shoulder belts also affects outcome, but some acceleration rates are not survivable anyway.

[N33GG]

The aircraft may not be in many pieces, but it is not very intact.  It looks like (to me at least) it is smashed in mostly a downward direction and little forward momentum.  Either it stalled and dropped like a rock, or it hit that little hill right behind it at the wrong time and wrong angle, or maybe the pilot was trying to squeeze a little more out of it to miss the hill and caused the final stall.  I don't know, but that is what it looks like to me from what is presented.  Either way, there were severe downward forces.  I agree with Hank on this one. 

 

Those early decisions in a flight, as well as those very last fraction-of-a-second decisions and control inputs, can make or ruin your day, even if you have lots of experience and ratings.  Be careful out there!

[DaV8or]

This sucks. When somebody said it was a M20A and it was in Arizona, I immediately thought of the only M20A I have ever seen. I looked it up and compared the crash photo and realized it is the plane I saw in person and the pilot and son I met last year in Columbia at a Vintage Mooney Group fly in. Vidson Chan is the pilot's name and Cody is his son. He had just bought the plane recently when I met him last summer and he and his son were having a great time. I am assuming it's Vidson anyhow and that he didn't sell the plane since last summer. Here they are in better times at the fly in.

 

 

Things like this when it's closer to home, really make me wonder sometimes what the heck I'm doing up in the sky in a single engine plane pushing 50. My guess as to the fatality would be perhaps lack of shoulder harness. Kevin's airbag seatbelts would have no doubt saved the day.

[Marauder]

Really sad. I noticed no prop damage on this plane. Looking at the video a few times, I don't see any ground scars behind the plane. It is rocky but it doesn't appear the brush or dirt immediately behind the plane is disturbed. I had a friend lose a tip on his E. His forced landing was on slight inclined hill. He and his passenger had extensive back damage from the hard landing. His wheels stayed in place. The amount of force required to drive those wheels through the wings suggests a really hard impact.

[aviatoreb]

Things like this when it's closer to home, really make me wonder sometimes what the heck I'm doing up in the sky in a single engine plane pushing 50. My guess as to the fatality would be perhaps lack of shoulder harness. Kevin's airbag seatbelts would have no doubt saved the day.

 

Yes...they may have.  I wish more of us would get back on that amsafe airbags thread and show interest.  I really want those airbags and I have been emailing to them outside the thread as to that interest too.  But unless more of us show interest, there will be no argument for him to make to the bosses that the mooney folks value them.

 

Separate from that, your statement of pushing 50 and wondering what you are doing in the sky.  An incident last saturday night reminded me that bad things can happen anywhere.  I'm still going to fly but I would buy the amsafe in  a heartbeat if I could.  We live on a small quiet street in a small quiet town.  Last sat night our neighbors, 2 doors down, who recently had a baby and their mother and grandmother who were visiting had a tragedy.  The grandma of 59 years old was walking and killed by a hit and run driver just 1 block from the house.  I walk on that street every day as do my children. Yes they caught the driver within hours.  We are heart broken.

[DaV8or]

Yes...they may have.  I wish more of us would get back on that amsafe airbags thread and show interest.  I really want those airbags and I have been emailing to them outside the thread as to that interest too.  But unless more of us show interest, there will be no argument for him to make to the bosses that the mooney folks value them.

 

I want them and told him in person. In the mean time, I installed shoulder belts.

[jetdriven]

I dont see any shoulder harnesses in that plane, and it hit with some severe downward force, you can see the initial ground contact was just before the crest of that hill.  You might ask M20A owners about the seats and seat mounts, I think they are not mounted on rails and have energy-absorbing seat pans and structure like later Mooneys.

[moodychief]

It appears the left wingtip hit causing a violent turn to the left. The open door has a sizable bush against the interior side of the door indicating the door flung open and the mother was probably ejected due to the extreme side forces. With the sizeable boulders it wouldn't take much to fatally injure someone.