Mooney M20K accident near North Plains, OR
On January 5, 2006, a Mooney M20K (airplane) was involved in an accident near North Plains, OR. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- January 5, 2006
- Place
- North Plains, OR
- Aircraft
- Mooney M20K · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 45.593°N, 123.014°W
- NTSB ID
- 20060112X00062
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On January 5, 2006, at 1056 Pacific standard time, a Mooney M20K, N27ER, was destroyed when it impacted terrain following a loss of aircraft control near North Plains, Oregon. The instrument rated private pilot was fatally injured. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal, local flight that originated from Portland-Hillsboro Airport, Hillsboro, Oregon, approximately 45 minutes before the accident. The pilot had not filed a flight plan. A friend of the pilot said that the pilot had purchased a new global positioning system (GPS) receiver and wanted to practice flying with it. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel, radar data indicated that after takeoff, the airplane maneuvered in an area south of Hillsboro Airport. At 1046:30, the pilot contacted Hillsboro Airport (ATC) tower requesting a practice VFR Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 12. At 1052:25, the pilot reported that he was approaching Dolla final approach fix; three minutes later the pilot told ATC that he was losing power and he needed to "put down." The pilot's last transmission was at 1056:05, and he said "there's a grass strip here." Several residents of Sunset Air Strip, North Plains, Oregon, reported hearing a loud noise; subsequently they found the airplane adjacent to one of their taxiways in a filbert nut orchard. The residents reported that they did not smell any fuel fumes when they arrived at the aircraft. A witness, who was driving east on US-26, approximate
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering for a forced landing, resulting in a stall-spin and uncontrolled descent to ground impact. A contributing factor was the loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion resulting from the pilot's inadequate preflight planning.
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Browse: Oregon · Mooney aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
