- Date
- September 3, 2009, 20:10 local (Sep 4, 2009, 00:10 UTC)
- Place
- Charlottesville, VA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N75PWMooney 231
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Ground collision
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report December 15, 2009
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- Case key
- 74684
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 inadequate preflight planning and lack of familiarity with the airport diagram, which resulted in a runway excursion onto a grassy area.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot performed a successful landing during night visual conditions, about 30 minutes after sunset at the destination airport. He taxied off the runway onto a perpendicular taxiway, and was instructed by the ground controller to "taxi to the ramp." The pilot stated that he was "unable to make out any features on the ground," due to the darkness. He observed the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) directly in front of him and proceeded straight ahead, not realizing there was a strip of grass separating the taxiway and the FBO. The airplane exited the taxiway and continued down a grassy slope between the ramp and taxiway. During the excursion from the taxiway, the propeller and the tail of the airplane struck the ground, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. He stated that the accident could have been prevented if he had studied the airport diagram and identified the grassy area.
Factual narrative
"THIS CASE WAS MODIFIED DECEMBER 10, 2009." The pilot performed a successful landing, about 30 minutes after sunset at the destination airport. He taxied off the runway onto a perpendicular taxiway, and was instructed by the ground controller to "taxi to the ramp." The pilot stated he was "unable to make out any features on the ground," due to the darkness. He observed the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) directly in front of him and proceeded straight ahead, not realizing there was a strip of grass separating the taxiway and the FBO. The airplane exited the taxiway and continued down a grassy slope between the ramp and taxiway. During the excursion from the taxiway, the propeller and the tail of the airplane struck the ground, resulting in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. He said that the accident could have been prevented if he had studied the airport diagram more closely and noticed the grass strip.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N75PW
- Reported as
- Mooney 231
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25-0806
- Airframe hours
- 4,180
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Philip M. Walker
- Registered owner
- Philip M. Walker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 23, 2009
- Departed
- BWI · Baltimore, MD
- Destination
- CHO · Charlottesville, VA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- CHO · Charlottesville-Albermarle, runway 03, 6,001 × 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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 10, 2009
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,727 total · 1,411 in this make and model · 1,585 as pilot in command · 42 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- 50° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.05 inHg
- Observed at
- CHO
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 29, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.9 MB in all.