- Date
- March 27, 1988, 17:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Manchester, NH
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2746WMooney M20
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880327008699A
- Case key
- 36126
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
Maintenance personnel improperly installed the number two connecting rod (p/n L-10646) causing it to separate, create a hole in the engine case, loss of engine oil and engine power. Due to the pilot's improper inflight decision, he performed a wheels up landing on a highway bridge causing substantial damage.
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
Shortly after takeoff from Manchester, new hampshire and after reaching an altitude of about 2,000 feet, the aircraft experienced an engine failure and at the same time oil splattered on the windshield. The pilot made an emergency wheels up landing on a bridge on route 93 in hooksett, new hampshire. A post accident inspection of the airplane revealed a hole in the engine upper case at the no. 2 cylinder and a fractured and deforemed no. 2 connecting rod. Metallurgical exam indicated that the connecting rod bolt nut on the no.2 cylinder backed completely off the bolt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2746W
- Reported as
- Mooney M20
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1042
- Airframe hours
- 2,870
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Fatios Grannopoulas
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 31, 1987
- Departed
- MHT · Manchester, NH
- Destination
- Concord, NH
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,870 total · 370 in this make and model · 400 as pilot in command · 75 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
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 N2746W · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.