- Date
- April 20, 1983, 17:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Trenton, NE
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N231KVMooney M20K
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830420014629A
- Case key
- 33398
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 acft was climbing through 11500 to 12000 ft MSL when the engine made a loud noise followed by a lurch. The oil pressure dropped to zero and the engine developed a roughness. The plt said he shut the engine down at this time, the plt advised denver ARTCC of his emergency and asked for locations of airports in the vicinity. The controller responded that the Trenton, NE arpt was about 15 miles behind him. The acft was turned to a heading of 80 degrees which later was changed to 55 degrees. 5 miles west of Trenton the plt resported that he had the rwy in sight. The acft was landed gear down about 1/2 mile short of rwy 14. Examination of the engine after the accident showed the crankshaft cluster gear p/n 630690 was missing about 1/2 of its teeth that mesh with the cam shaft drive gear. The failure was found to have started as a fatigue type fracture in one of the gear teeth.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N231KV
- Reported as
- Mooney M20K
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25-0291
- Airframe hours
- 597
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-360-GB, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lionel D. Johnson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Unknown · July 14, 1982 · 144 hours before
- Departed
- HSI · Hastings, NE
- Destination
- GJT · Grand Junction, CO
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- runway 14, 2,600 × 280 ft, grass/turf
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 956 total · 439 in this make and model · 892 as pilot in command · 42 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MCK, 22 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.