Mooney fatal at Palo Alto

Dang. There was a fatality. I believe I flew over this crash while landing 31 at PAO. Not sure, as I was under the hood and pretty concentrated on flying the plane and the runway. Winds were shifting at the time and the runway in use was about to be flipped. Looks like it happened on a go around. No fire, no smoke, lots of emergency response.
 
Bet he didn't have shoulder harnesses. The cockpit doesn't look all that busted up. Wish I could make out the tail number, make certain its no one I know.
 
steingar said:
Bet he didn't have shoulder harnesses. The cockpit doesn't look all that busted up. Wish I could make out the tail number, make certain its no one I know.
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Just found the audio. It's N701JM. The fatality was definitely the pilot, as there's a male voice piloting. Pilot seemed unfamiliar with PAO.

Also, it's a 92, so should have shoulder belt.

It's right at the end of the 1730Z block at LiveATC.
 
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Sounds like it might’ve stalled during a go-around.

Sad :(
 
Angel flight for operation on family member, pilot told tower he was to fast and was going around according to latest news article.
 
RE: crash. Sad indeed. Sorry for the pilot, friends, family, etc. Hopefully it went quick for him.

RE: comments
..scary that these people are allowed to vote and have an influence on the taxes we pay and laws that govern our lives

Luckily Pro Pilot and Cirrus Pilot brought some wisdom in. Mark has his entire sample size off "looking out my office window" to tell us that Palo Alto is not a safe airport. JFC

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ElPaso Pilot said:
Ugh. Had to stop reading the comments on this one.
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Yeah, agree. The reality is that there were only a couple negative voices, though. Still hard to read.

The story, on the other hand, is surprisingly good for an aviation article in mainstream news.

Angel Flight. Damn. That sucks. Glad the patient/family seems to have made it out alive.

And, of course, KPAO is crazy busy. It's routinely in the top three busiest single-runway airports in the country.

I also have to hand it to emergency responders. When I landed about 15 minutes after the accident, there were already police and fire well established with the situation under control. Also the local controller, who I believe I know and recognize his voice. handled it well. And even kept the airport open.
 
Someone on Mooneyspace posted a pick of the women getting out. Said the pilot tried to make a steep right turn at 200 feet agl and put it into a stall.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
eman1200 said:
audio

fast forward to about the 22 minute mark.
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Thanks for posting eman. There was one time where I was on base to final and flying west into the setting sun I couldn’t see the airport at all. Not until I was on top of it. But I had twice the runway and in a 172.

My only knowledge of Moonies is from reading posts here, but it seems that you have to have them dialed in from the get go.
 
I have heard witness report that he came in fast, touched down, porpoised (twice?), struck the prop and tried to go around but struggled to climb resulting in a stall.
 
RudyP said:
I have heard witness report that he came in fast, touched down, porpoised (twice?), struck the prop and tried to go around but struggled to climb resulting in a stall.
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:-( Mooneys will not stay on the ground if you force them on too fast...
 
Wow. Sad to listen to. Sounds like he was just a bit behind the whole time. God bless.
 
Peter Anderson said:
Someone on Mooneyspace posted a pick of the women getting out. Said the pilot tried to make a steep right turn at 200 feet agl and put it into a stall.
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There's zero reason to turn right there. It's left traffic for 13. There's stuff to hit down low to the right. I'm guessing cause and effect are reversed...the stall came first and that resulted in a wicked wing drop. I've experienced massive wing drops during stalls in Mooneys. The laminar wing is very conducive to big drops if you're anything but coordinated. On a go around, a turbo M20K is going to be a handful, with lots to do.
 
benyflyguy said:
Wow. Sad to listen to. Sounds like he was just a bit behind the whole time. God bless.
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In our J201, I'm nearly at full nose up trim as I cross the fence, that's just where it ends up being to be at 65-70kts. Which results in...

arnoha said:
There's zero reason to turn right there. It's left traffic for 13. There's stuff to hit down low to the right. I'm guessing cause and effect are reversed...the stall came first and that resulted in a wicked wing drop. I've experienced massive wing drops during stalls in Mooneys. The laminar wing is very conducive to big drops if you're anything but coordinated. On a go around, a turbo M20K is going to be a handful, with lots to do.
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Having to have Popeye arms to keep the nose down when you throttle up to go around. Some Mooney experts recommend adding just enough throttle to arrest the descent, then get the trim/flaps back to takeoff settings, then go full throttle and leave the runway environment. I go full throttle knowing full well I'm going to have to push HARD until I get the flaps up some and the trim off. And yeah, the Mooney will drop a wing bigtime if you're even a little off on a stall.

Not to speculate, but it sounds like this guy porpoised and then tried to go around. I wonder if he was ready to or capable of pushing HARD to keep the nose down.
 
The whole thing sux but I'll bet after all the difficulty he had finding the reporting points and then the airport and runway, the last thing he wanted to do was to have to go around and do it all over again; so he forced it down...

There's a lot to learn here, from this and the one I posted above...
 
They stated he has made close to 50 Angel flights, I’m curious how much time he had in the Mooney and what his previous plane was.
 
FlySince9 said:
The whole thing sux but I'll bet after all the difficulty he had finding the reporting points and then the airport and runway, the last thing he wanted to do was to have to go around and do it all over again; so he forced it down...

There's a lot to learn here, from this and the one I posted above...
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It was bothersome to have the airport ops repeatedly ask about 911...uh, the call is free, just f-ing call.
“I’m sure someone else called...”
Probably, but what if everyone says that???
 
Omalley1537 said:
It was bothersome to have the airport ops repeatedly ask about 911...uh, the call is free, just f-ing call.
“I’m sure someone else called...”
Probably, but what if everyone says that???
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But... but ... there were like ten cars down there so all was ok. Somebody there must have called.
 
Omalley1537 said:
It was bothersome to have the airport ops repeatedly ask about 911...uh, the call is free, just f-ing call.
“I’m sure someone else called...”
Probably, but what if everyone says that???
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As I was listening to that I was thinking, just call already.
 
Bill Jennings said:
In our J201, I'm nearly at full nose up trim as I cross the fence, that's just where it ends up being to be at 65-70kts. Which results in... Having to have Popeye arms to keep the nose down when you throttle up to go around.
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I trim to 90 mph or 78 knots in M20E. On a go-around, there's very little to do until I start climbing and it's time to raise flaps. Only then I move the trim. Although maybe I misremember. Also, the accident aircraft is noticeably heavier and more powerful. The extra propwash ought to be pressing onto the tail good in a turbo Mooney. BTW, I can only do 20 push-ups.
 
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