- Date
- March 29, 1990, 20:55 local (Mar 30, 1990, 02:55 UTC)
- Place
- Murfreesboro, TN
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7061VMooney M20F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report November 9, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900329006489A
- Case key
- 8224
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Fatigue failure of the propeller blade which resulted in a forced off-airport landing.
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
During a descent for landing at 4500 feet part of the propeller blade separated from the acft. The pilot was vectored toward an airport but had to make a forced landing short. The gear was not extended & the acft slid onto an interstate hwy. it hit a passing van. Examination of the propeller blade fracture which remained showed that it failed from fatigue which initiated on the camber surface of the blade. The pilot said he had been operating from an airstrip with a stone surface.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7061V
- Reported as
- Mooney M20F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-1403
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Cargile, Neil H.
- Registered owner
- Watts, Thomas E., Jr.
- Departed
- PBI · West Palm Beach, FL
- Destination
- BNA · Nashville, TN
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
- 61
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 10,000 total · 800 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 180° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,700 ft broken
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BNA, 20 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.