- Date
- December 24, 1983, 19:03 local (Dec 25, 1983, 00:03 UTC)
- Place
- Clemson, SC
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7076VMooney M20F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19831224064189A
- Case key
- 6243
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft crashed in a wooded area about 15 miles from its destination but about 16 miles north of a straight line between gainesville, ga and anderson, SC. One witness about 5 miles from the site saw an acft just before the time of the crash flying at about 1000 ft AGL with its landing light on. The light remained on about 30 second then went out. The acft was heading south & its engine was running smoothly. It is not known if this was the accident acft. The acft crashed at 1903 fixed by a victims stopped wristwatch. The acft was expected by relatives in anderson by 1930. The occupants had gone to gainesville, ga to pick up a christmas present and the crash occurred on the way back. According to relatives the plt had flown into anderson many times at night. The plt called anderson fss about 15 minutes before the crash asking for an arpt advisory, there was no hint of any problem and no further calls from the acft. Investigation did not reveal a reason for the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7076V
- Reported as
- Mooney M20F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-1412
- Airframe hours
- 857
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gerald M. Paulus
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 17, 1983 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- GVL · Gainesville, GA
- Destination
- AND · Anderson, SC
- Airport
- AND · Anderson County
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 27
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 532 total · 28 in this make and model · 432 as pilot in command · 84 in the last 90 days · 18 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 310° at 12 knots, gusting 16
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 9 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Observed at
- AND, 15 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.