- Date
- August 13, 1989, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mound City, KS
- NTSB coordinates
- 39.1109, -94.3198 (estimated), outside the stated state
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N6960VMooney M20F
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890813028789A
- Case key
- 34693
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 continued VFR flight into an area of thunderstorms & heavy rain which resulted in a loss of control of the airplane. Factors related to the accident were thunderstorms and heavy rain.
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 PIC had obtained a weather briefing and was advised of widely scattered storm activity existing along the route. The acft was obsrvd in the vicinity of Mound City around 1400. Witnesses had obsrvd a rapidly building storm cell southwest that was moving northeast. The storm cell dumped huge amounts of rain in a short period, with the acft heard to be flying in the vicinity during the heaviest event of the storm. The sound of an eng rev-up was followed by the sound of an impact. The storm cell was not obsrvd on radar, but it was obsrvd to be of such size as to allow for circumnaviation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6960V
- Reported as
- Mooney M20F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-1327
- Airframe hours
- 1,807
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Worley, James M.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 10, 1988
- Departed
- T12 · Kirbyville, TX
- Destination
- STJ · St. Joseph, MS
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
- 67
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,147 total · 70 in this make and model · 1,147 as pilot in command · 26 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 84 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N6960V · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.