Mooney Crashes in Backyard

MSU Pilot

Well-Known Member
I was getting ready to give a 61.56 ride yesterday and watched this all unfold. It got even more scary when a good friend of mine said that it looked like his boss' airplane. It is absolutely amazing that he walked away from this with a scratch and a sore foot.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/26662240/detail.html

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It still amazes me how the news media can be so ignorant. In one article yesterday they explained that the pilot had "landed short of the runway", "tried a go around but didn't have enough room", and some other bogus that really does not make sense.
 
My thoughts: That pilot should thank his Deity of choice, buy a lotto ticket, as he is walking on borrowed time. There is bad continuity and editing on behalf of the media. I guess this is one reason we have insurance?
 
My thoughts: That pilot should thank his Deity of choice, buy a lotto ticket, as he is walking on borrowed time. There is bad continuity and editing on behalf of the media. I guess this is one reason we have insurance?

When I had a similar holy shnikes time, I thought buying a lottery ticket would be a BAD thing, I used up a lot of luck, if I won, I would be running on empty. Went home and hugged my kids instead......
 
Wow, surprised I hadn't heard about it. Weather was superb yesterday when I was up. Somebody at my airport usually knows about things like this. Glad to know the pilot walked away to fly again.
 
Mooneys are strong airplanes. There have actually been a few cases where a Mooney spun in from altitude but everyone on board survived.
 
Hanger Myth.

Not at all:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20080918X01493&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20060525X00619&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001211X13252&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X26446&key=1
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=2433&key=0
Also, story mentioned by Jim Patton one of the Mooney test pilots in Rich Stowell's book on spins and apparently an article in the March 1991 edition of Popular Mechanic:
"And a few months later a Mooney was lost to a flat spin during a sales demonstration flight. Amazingly, the sales demo pilot and the three passengers survived with injuries..."
 
I sit corrected, BUT: They must have not been straight in spins/whatnot. I don't care what you are sitting in, you hit with enough g's, you are coming apart. (But according to that funny blog I just read, if you void your bowels and bladder before impact, you have a better shot at keeping those together. Crash like a pro.)
 
I sit corrected, BUT: They must have not been straight in spins/whatnot. I don't care what you are sitting in, you hit with enough g's, you are coming apart. (But according to that funny blog I just read, if you void your bowels and bladder before impact, you have a better shot at keeping those together. Crash like a pro.)

dfac870d.png
 
I dunno, they seem more like blind luck than anything, two spun into trees, one into water, a couple on failed go arounds from low altitude... I'd be willing to bet that any airplane model would have similar occurences.

It's a good airplane but if it were that much stronger than others then it's missing out on useful load, which is a shame.
 
My thoughts: That pilot should thank his Deity of choice, buy a lotto ticket, as he is walking on borrowed time. There is bad continuity and editing on behalf of the media. I guess this is one reason we have insurance?


:yeahthat:
 
I sit corrected, BUT: They must have not been straight in spins/whatnot. I don't care what you are sitting in, you hit with enough g's, you are coming apart. (But according to that funny blog I just read, if you void your bowels and bladder before impact, you have a better shot at keeping those together. Crash like a pro.)

Actually, aircraft design and the ability of the aircraft to absorb g's prior to their transfer to the occupants plays a big part in survivability.
 
Actually, aircraft design and the ability of the aircraft to absorb g's prior to their transfer to the occupants plays a big part in survivability.

True to a certain extent. Rather crash in a volvo than a kia. But, if you are hitting a cement abutment at 150mph, bottom line is still the same.
 
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