- Date
- March 26, 1991, 13:11 local (19:11 UTC)
- Place
- Prior Lake, MN
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N9692MMooney M-20C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910326007629A
- Case key
- 14897
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
Failure to maintain airspeed while executing a forced landing. Factors related to the accident were the pilot's improper inflight planning/decision, and fuel exhaustion.
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 aircraft was found in a farmer's field by a neighboring property owner. It had impacted and embedded the nose in the soft, rising terrain approximately 45 degrees nose down with the wings level. There was no ground travel after initial impact. Investigation revealed that there was no evidence of fuel in the aircraft or the engine. There was no evidence that the engine was producing power at impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9692M
- Reported as
- Mooney M-20C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 670028
- Airframe hours
- 2,328
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Vincent J. Herrick
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 14, 1990 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- Y12 · Lakeville, MN
- Airport
- NONE · Unk
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
- 47
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,500 total · 400 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MSP, 14 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.