- Date
- July 18, 2020, 18:05 local (22:05 UTC)
- Place
- Block Island, RI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N58066Mooney M20J
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200718010899A
- Case key
- 101698
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
A hard landing and subsequent loss of control.
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
Following an uneventful flight, the pilot was landing the airplane at the destination airport. When the airplane touched down, he “experienced and issue” with the right main landing gear. The airplane then veered off the right-side of the runway. The pilot applied corrective rudder inputs to bring the airplane back toward the runway centerline, but it continued past the centerline and off the left side of the runway. The pilot then applied the brakes but found that there was “no action.” The airplane came to rest off the left side of the runway. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed the nose landing gear had sheared from the fuselage and the main landing gear had collapsed. The propeller was damaged, and the lower fuselage was substantially damaged. The right main landing gear trunnion rod was pushed up and through the top of the right wing. Further examination of the right main landing gear revealed the two front support tubes for the landing gear's shock absorbers were both broken at the base where they attach to the shock absorber assembly. The brakes appeared new and no defects were noted. The right tire spun freely and exhibited two flat spots, one of which was through the tire cord, rupturing it. The tire also displayed rubbing and scuffing marks that were off-axis relative to the direction of travel. Skid marks on the runway were consistent with the damage observed on the right main landing gear tire. Given the damage observed to the right main landing gear, it is likely that the pilot landed the airplane hard. The damage to the landing gear likely resulted in the subsequent loss of control and runway excursion.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N58066
- Reported as
- Mooney M20J (No Series)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1541
- Built
- 1985
- Airframe hours
- 7,271
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A3B68, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Unicorn Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Unicorn Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2020 · 9 hours before
- Departed
- HFD · Hartford, CT
- Destination
- BID · Block Island, RI
- Airport
- BID · Block Island State, runway 28, 2,502 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Handheld GPS
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
- 60
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 4, 2019
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 550 total · 391 in this make and model · 550 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- BID
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 18.4 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.