Mooney Down - Lakeland, FL

asechrest

asechrest

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asechrest
Story here.
Flightaware here.

Looks like a brand new 2015 Mooney, registered to Mooney Int'l.

Seems pilot is ok, thankfully:

The pilot was the only person on board, according to Lakeland Fire, and was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
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I assume it was headed in for Sun 'N Fun.
 
Happy the pilot is OK....:):):)..

Judging from the fire... I say fuel was NOT an issue...:dunno::rolleyes2:
 
Quite a job dodging storms, too bad they couldn't finish it off. :(
 
This is a 2015 Turbo Mooney, company owned. I wonder if it was heading into Lakeland to be on static display for Sun 'N Fun?
 
Good to hear the pilot is Ok. That is always good news.

I wonder if he will get a job at Cessna now.....
 
I also am glad that the pilot is ok.

I did some thunderstorm dodging last week in a flight from Alabama to Sebring, FL, not too far from Lakeland. If you want to fly in Florida you will need to dodge storms.
 
Glad the pilot is okay. I wonder if there will be some awkward moments at the Mooney booth at Sun 'n' Fun.
 
Dennis McKim said:
Glad the pilot is okay. I wonder if there will be some awkward moments at the Mooney booth at Sun 'n' Fun.
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Personally.... I would drag the wreckage over to S&F and display it in the Mooney booth, along with the pilot who crashed it showing the masses how well their airframe survives a off airport crash......;)...

Ya know,,, Making lemonade out of lemons kinda thing....:redface:
 
N801BH said:
Personally.... I would drag the wreckage over to S&F and display it in the Mooney booth, along with the pilot who crashed it showing the masses how well their airframe survives a off airport crash......;)...

Ya know,,, Making lemonade out of lemons kinda thing....:redface:
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Also shows how easy they catch on fire.
 
DavidWhite said:
Mooney has the best safety record of any single engine retract as far as ratio of incidents/fatalities goes. Nice try though.
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Yup, that CrMo roll cage surrounding the passenger cell certainly helps, and Mooneys have that hella strong wing spar as well.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Yup, that CrMo roll cage surrounding the passenger cell certainly helps, and Mooneys have that hella strong wing spar as well.
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It is interesting that most race car wrecks don't kill the driver thanks to things like roll cages, unlike normal cars which kill a lot of folks, but not as many as in the 60s when we had less safety features.
 
Warrior said:
It is interesting that most race car wrecks don't kill the driver thanks to things like roll cages, unlike normal cars which kill a lot of folks, but not as many as in the 60s when we had less safety features.
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it's amazing to see a NASCAR driver roll all over the track and get out of the car on his own.
 
DavidWhite said:
Mooney has the best safety record of any single engine retract as far as ratio of incidents/fatalities goes. Nice try though.
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Statistics....
1. Mooneys are 4 place, comparing 4 place with 6+ retracts the 4 place will have a lower ratio of fatalities to incidents
2. Mooneys have a low useful load, and generally don't carry 4 and probably carry less compared with others (latest accident in TN not withstanding)
3. A more interesting statistic would be comparing planes with bladders to those with wet wings.

But I agree, Mooneys are safe planes, I have one
 
Hank S said:
Ripping the wing off is "easy"???? :yikes: What counts as difficult in your world?
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I'm just tired of seeing what seems like 2 results:
1. Ran out of fuel
2. Landed and burst into flames

I agree this probably not a good example.
 
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Zeldman said:
Good to hear the pilot is Ok. That is always good news.

I wonder if he will get a job at Cessna now.....
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The pilot is well known and highly esteemed in the Mooney community. There was plenty of fuel on board... the brand new engine just stopped making power as he approached the runway, and he apparently didn't have enough time or altitude to relight it. Unfortunately, it was Mooney's factory demonstrator and he was ferrying it down for SnF. The aircraft is believed to have had less than 20 hours total time on it.
 
It will be real interesting to see what caused the power failure.
 
colojo said:
Yes, the Acclaim Type S has a manual tank selector.
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As I examine the photo a bit more. The plane could've hit the boat and the fire could've been caused by the Boats fuel. I have no idea! :dunno:
 
You'd have to try real hard to run out of fuel in a new G1000 equipped Mooney. I pretty well doubt that happened but anything is possible. I'll wait for the report before jumping to conclusions.
 
colojo said:
The pilot is well known and highly esteemed in the Mooney community. There was plenty of fuel on board... the brand new engine just stopped making power as he approached the runway, and he apparently didn't have enough time or altitude to relight it. Unfortunately, it was Mooney's factory demonstrator and he was ferrying it down for SnF. The aircraft is believed to have had less than 20 hours total time on it.
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Infant Mortality? No more news on what may have caused the fan to quit?

I know my ~2000hr O-540 still purrs like a kitten, well a big thirsty kitten. The first 100-150hrs when it does get majored will have me sweating a little.
 
jesse said:
You'd have to try real hard to run out of fuel in a new G1000 equipped Mooney. I pretty well doubt that happened but anything is possible. I'll wait for the report before jumping to conclusions.
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Or it could be like my dad joked: "the warning bell was so loud that I couldn't think.":wink2:
 
Considering how old the technology is, how small the productions runs are, and how expensive the pricing of these not all that complicated contraptions, the prevalence of infant mortality in GA is just un-%^&-real. Another nail in the coffin.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Considering how old the technology is, how small the productions runs are, and how expensive the pricing of these not all that complicated contraptions, the prevalence of infant mortality in GA is just un-%^&-real. Another nail in the coffin.
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No kidding. I guess you can't trust "hand built" things as much as factory built. Clearly the robots putting our cars together are doing a better job. Who here has fears of their brand new car failing on the freeway on ramp within the first 300 hours of use? How many people prefer to buy a car with 50,000 miles on it only because they believe it will be more trouble free? My guess is nobody.
 
Today at SNF I had a blast!! I met the person who actually crashed the plane. His name is Richard and he was actually at the Mooney booth today and he explained all that he remembered. Very nice guy, I don't know if he is going to be there tomorrow (Sunday) but if you are in town and planning to go to SNF look him up at the Mooney booth.

20150425_101647.jpg

This is some of what he said:

#1 The Mooney lost power when he was trying to land. The prop was still spinning but he wasn't able to climb.

#2 He followed the plane all the way in until the time he blacked out.

#3 If it wasn't for the steel roll cage he wouldn't be here today.
 
Any info from the authorities on what they think happened? I did speak to the person that crashed the plane but did they find anything out of the ordinary? It's probably tough to come up with anything because the plane burned pretty bad.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Any info from the authorities on what they think happened? I did speak to the person that crashed the plane but did they find anything out of the ordinary? It's probably tough to come up with anything because the plane burned pretty bad.
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I imagine a preliminary report will come out shortly but the full report could be many months away.
 
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