Mooney M20M accident near Worcester, MA
On October 24, 2015, a Mooney M20M (airplane) was involved in an accident near Worcester, MA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- October 24, 2015
- Place
- Worcester, MA
- Aircraft
- Mooney M20M · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 42.261°N, 71.869°W
- NTSB ID
- 20151024X21235
Official records · ERA16FA023
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 24, 2015, at 0753 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20M, N243CW, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain shortly after taking off from Worcester Regional Airport (ORH), Worcester, Massachusetts. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight. There was no radar coverage of the area. Airport security cameras captured partial segments of the flight and showed that the airplane took off from runway 11. One camera showed the airplane in flight, climbing over the intersection of runway 15 about 1,500 ft from the departure end of the 7,000-ft-long takeoff runway. Using the height of the airplane's tail as a reference, the estimated altitude of the airplane was about 80 to 90 ft above the runway surface at that point, climbing in a slight right turn. The airplane then flew out of view and reappeared about 16 seconds later headed in the roughly the opposite direction of takeoff. Based on the approximate height of the control tower, the airplane appeared to be about 200 ft above the ground in a shallow, climbing right turn. The airplane's nose then began dropping, and the right bank angle increased. The airplane continued to turn to the right in an increasingly nose-down attitude as it descended into a stand of trees. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONAccording to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, the pilot held an airline
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power during the initial climb due to a fatigue failure of the engine's crankshaft. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
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Browse: Massachusetts · 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.
