1 dead in plane crash in Oxnard field near Camarillo Airport

Maybe a medical issue? The old Mooney's had a full time wing leveler autopilot function called PC that you had to disable by pushing a button on the yoke to change your heading. That, with a slight nose down trim, could put you wings level, high speed, into the ground.
 
Maybe a medical issue? The old Mooney's had a full time wing leveler autopilot function called PC that you had to disable by pushing a button on the yoke to change your heading. That, with a slight nose down trim, could put you wings level, high speed, into the ground.

That’s pretty interesting. The one that was missing that was found was a 1968 model. Would that have had this feature?
 
Yeah, I think so.


about a 1000’ long wreckage path, straight-line, wings level, that we found, I’d be curious if the yoke of the plane, still on site with the rest of it, has the cutoff button on the left side of it.

A few on-scene pics, of the many taken documenting the site. Can see the impact scar from the air and from the pic taken of it on the ground.

988D2234-0DFA-481C-A3B6-2D940CAB45E8.jpeg
F4C2B846-4ADF-4566-A86F-E57FF55BB02B.jpeg
5F76288F-9399-4AEC-9D04-6E6B0894BFBF.jpeg
5C1A824A-B8E4-44BE-A96A-833433AB88E2.jpeg
29245684-34F6-4C17-A25D-37632F85ABC1.jpeg
 
Maybe a medical issue? The old Mooney's had a full time wing leveler autopilot function called PC that you had to disable by pushing a button on the yoke to change your heading. That, with a slight nose down trim, could put you wings level, high speed, into the ground.

I think those were common until the 201's and 252's came out - I flew a "new" (less than 200hrs) 205 and it ddn't. The late 70's vintage Mooney I flew did. Most pilots I know basically strapped it down/disabled it.
 
I think those were common until the 201's and 252's came out - I flew a "new" (less than 200hrs) 205 and it ddn't. The late 70's vintage Mooney I flew did. Most pilots I know basically strapped it down/disabled it.

This. I’ve seen a couple M20s with the yoke button zip tied or removed all together. I got to do some instrument training in an M20C with a working button, and it was definitely an annoyance.


about a 1000’ long wreckage path, straight-line, wings level, that we found, I’d be curious if the yoke of the plane, still on site with the rest of it, has the cutoff button on the left side of it.

A few on-scene pics, of the many taken documenting the site. Can see the impact scar from the air and from the pic taken of it on the ground.

These photos are sobering, but I think it’s important to see. Thank you for sharing. I’ve never seen the pitot static instruments frozen in time like that. Do you think they’re believable or of any use in an accident investigation? ~100 KIAS seems slow for an M20 in a shallow descent, and the climb on the VSI is obviously wrong.
 
These photos are sobering, but I think it’s important to see. Thank you for sharing. I’ve never seen the pitot static instruments frozen in time like that. Do you think they’re believable or of any use in an accident investigation? ~100 KIAS seems slow for an M20 in a shallow descent, and the climb on the VSI is obviously wrong.

some more for you

8ED364E9-4B8C-4E5C-985E-8C0F4405489E.jpeg
A187E75E-23FD-475B-A9AC-FEC831581C73.jpeg
1E658D29-BCAB-437B-B779-C2D4184D39F9.jpeg
98790E25-ACDA-40A6-8067-4BB975117D2F.jpeg
F0674514-6DE9-4A34-8532-CB2BAA092D5B.jpeg
F98FC470-4AE0-4E85-8FC0-0C3B6D9B19B9.jpeg
1D0519E3-0871-45B8-BF8B-718BF387ED34.jpeg
A87D5D4A-0D0C-40B5-902E-44590CB9D64F.jpeg
 
Sort of haunting looking thru those photo's. The guys logbook probably had many years of his life in flying. A testament to his aviation endeavors. All reduced to a sectional chart, an E6B, and an old school Flight Guide that probably hadn't been updated in 20 years. That's how long it's been since I've seen one of those. Ironically, my first job in aviation was out of Boulder City in maybe 83 ish. Grand Canyon tours. I don't recognize the guys name. FAA has it registered out of Texas so that could have been an old registration stuffed into the bottom of a back seat pocket.
 
Very haunting. :(

@MikeD as a trained accident investigator, do you pay any attention to the needles on the gauges, or are they mostly just gibberish after a crash like that? It seemed like the airspeed may have been believable but probably low, and the VSI was showing a climb. I’d guess that the impact forces plus the pitot-static system losing pressure as it’s all ripped apart probably yields gibberish when it’s all said and done. What about the electrically signaled instruments, like fuel gauges, etc?
 
Very haunting. :(

@MikeD as a trained accident investigator, do you pay any attention to the needles on the gauges, or are they mostly just gibberish after a crash like that? It seemed like the airspeed may have been believable but probably low, and the VSI was showing a climb. I’d guess that the impact forces plus the pitot-static system losing pressure as it’s all ripped apart probably yields gibberish when it’s all said and done. What about the electrically signaled instruments, like fuel gauges, etc?

We take note of them, with the understanding that they may be correct, partially correct, or not correct at all. Ie- they can’t be relied on conclusively. They have to either back up other evidence, or other evidence has to back them up. One thing that can be examined, are any witness marks….or imprints on the face of a gauge that could have been made by the hands or pointer of a gauge at the moment of impact, even though the gauge may now be reading something completely different. Where this becomes useful are for things like electrical-powered gauges, many of which when power is lost, revert to zero or bottom indication; such as fuel gauges that are electrical, indicating empty when power is lost. It all depends on what the aircraft is equipped with, but that’s a general rule of thumb of how gauges, switches, etc, are viewed evidence-wise.

The Mooney here has the master switch switched to off on the mangled instrument panel, with the ignition switch on and the key broken inside the switch. It would be a reasonable assumption that this was post-impact that the switch got moved, as there would be no reason for it to be off in normal operation.
 
Back
Top