- Date
- March 20, 1983, 06:20 local (11:20 UTC)
- Place
- Tampa, FL
- Injuries
- 3 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N1166UMooney M20J
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830320008679A
- Case key
- 30770
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 accident occurred during an instrument takeoff in IMC. The sky was obscured & visibility zero. After lift-off the acft began to settle. The plt stated he aggravated the situation by advancing down trim which was his routine to establish a 5 deg climb pitch. He further aggravated the situation by engaging the autopilot. On 'hdg' mode the autopilot holds the active trim which was still down. The plt also thought he set the HSI bug to the rwy heading of 360 deg. After the accident he found the 'hdg' bug on 330 deg.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1166U
- Reported as
- Mooney M20J
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 24-1297
- Airframe hours
- 319
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A3B6D, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Malcolm P. Lawrence, doing business as Benton Veneer Co.
- Registered owner
- Benton Veneer Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 18, 1983 · 67 hours before
- Departed
- TPA · Tampa, FL
- Destination
- Montgomery, AL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- TPA · Tampa Intl, runway 36R, 8,300 × 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
- 54
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,692 total · 1,462 in this make and model · 1,579 as pilot in command · 103 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 130° at 4 knots
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.