Mooney M20J accident near Holly Ridge, NC
On October 21, 2021, a Mooney M20J (airplane) was involved in an accident near Holly Ridge, NC. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- October 21, 2021
- Place
- Holly Ridge, NC
- Aircraft
- Mooney M20J · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 34.492°N, 77.537°W
- NTSB ID
- 20211021104145
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 21, 2021, at 1631 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20J, N3933H, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Holly Ridge/Topsail Island Airport (N21), Holly Ridge, North Carolina. The commercial pilot and one passenger were fatally injured, one passenger was seriously injured, and one passenger received minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Radar data obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed the pilot and the front-seat passenger had completed a 30-minute local flight at 1603. Then, two additional passengers boarded the airplane before departing on the accident flight. Review of a video recorded by a witness at N21 revealed that the airplane started its takeoff roll for the accident flight on the 3,591-ft-long grass runway. After lift-off, the airplane’s wings wobbled as it climbed, turned left, and descended into a wooded area about two-thirds the distance down the runway. A video recorded by a surviving passenger revealed that the engine continued to operate throughout the accident sequence and sounds consistent with a stall warning horn were heard before impact. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe recovered pilot’s logbook was identified as “Logbook 3”. The first entry was dated October 23, 2006. The last entry was dated September 17, 2021. Between those dates, the pilot annotated 436 hours of flight experience, all but 2.2 hours of which were in the accident airplane. The pilot completed a flight review on September 17, 2021; that flight wa
Probable cause
The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in a stall/mush during takeoff and initial climb. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s loading the airplane near its maximum allowable gross weight and near its aft cg limit.
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Browse: North Carolina · 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.
