- Date
- August 3, 1990, 11:47 local (17:47 UTC)
- Place
- Roswell, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5677QMooney M20C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 15, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900803034859A
- Case key
- 17976
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 intentional wheels up landing in soft terrain. Contributing to the accident was the fuel starvation induced power loss, failure of the pilot to switch fuel tanks, improper positioning of the fuel selector during attempted restarts, and the soft terrain.
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
Plt said he had 52 gals fuel on board when he departed el paso, TX, en route to Roswell, NM on practice x-country flt. He made two practice ILS apchs at Roswell, then started climbing towards Roswell VORTAC, en route back to el paso. As he reached 4500 feet MSL, eng lost pwr. Plt turned back towards Roswell, established glide, and declared emerg. He attempted to restart eng but had no success. Realizing he had insufficient alt to reach arpt, plt made intentional wheels-up landing on soft, irregular terrain. Postaccident examination disclosed fuel selector was between off and right tank detents. Fuel supply line was disconnected. When master and boost pump switches were turned on, no fuel came out. When fuel selector was switched completely to right tank, still no fuel came out. When fuel selector was switched to left tank, fuel poured out of fuel supply line. Examination of intact fuel tanks revealed left tank contained fuel; right tank did not.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5677Q
- Reported as
- Mooney M20C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3037
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Smith, George F.
- Departed
- ELP · El Paso, TX
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
- 65
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 525 total · 270 in this make and model · 381 as pilot in command · 66 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- ROW, 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.