- Date
- September 22, 1994, 19:47 local (23:47 UTC)
- Place
- Chamblee, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N97136Mooney M20J
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 4, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940922029849A
- Case key
- 3449
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
The pilot's improper flare that resulted a in hard landing, followed by his improper recovery from a bounced landing, and his failure to maintain directional control during the attempted go- around.
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 pilot was conducting touch and go landings. He departed the landing pattern for a while, to conduct practice maneuvers at altitude. Upon return to the same field, additional touch and go landings were accomplished. On the accident landing, the airplane was observed to land hard and bounce. Power was applied, the nose of the airplane yawed left, and the left wing dropped and dragged the runway. The nose gear then struck the ground and was sheared away. The airplane then slid to a stop.
Factual narrative
On September 22, 1994, at 1947 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20J, N97136, collided with the runway during landing at the Dekalb-Peachtree Airport, Chamblee, Georgia. The personal flight operated under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane received substantial damage, and the pilot was not injured. The local flight originated from the same airport about 1845, on the same day.
According to the pilot, he had completed several touch and go landings to runway 20R. During the landing phase of this touch and go landing, the nose of the airplane yawed left, and dropped down. The airplane continued turning left and came to a stop. According to the report by the air traffic control tower personnel to the flight standards inspector, the airplane landed hard, power was applied, control of the airplane was lost, and the left wing contacted the runway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N97136
- Reported as
- Mooney M20J
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1061
- Airframe hours
- 2,654
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A3B6D, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Knowlton, Keith E.
- Registered owner
- Aeroflight, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Limited (Special); Standard, Transport; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 2, 1994 · 101 hours before
- Departed
- PDK
- Destination
- PDK · GA
- Airport
- PDK · Dekalb-Peachtree, runway 20R, 3,744 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 31
- Certificates
- Commercial, Foreign, Student, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 833 total · 9 in this make and model · 165 as pilot in command · 41 in the last 90 days · 9 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 2 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PDK, 1 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.