Mooney down in Florida

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First time posting here so unable to provide the link but a Google search will reveal this unfortunate News. Interested to know what the probable cause will be.

From WFLA News 8:
BARTOW, Fla. (WFLA) – Two people are dead after an aircraft crashed into a front yard in Bartow Thursday, deputies.......

...........The two people who died were a married couple inside the plane. The sheriff’s office has identified them as 73-year-old Bonnie Powell and 76-year-old Dennis Powell of Port Orange, Florida.

No one on the ground was hurt.

“It is a very, very strange place for a crash. It’s right on a nice quiet residential street like this. There are probably more houses than there is space to crash land,” said Wilder.

The scene where it happened is close to Bartow Executive Airport. That is where the plane was headed, according to Wilder.

The people in the plane were in contact with the airport in Bartow and preliminary reports indicate they showed no signs of an emergency.”
 
The crash site is about 1/2 nautical mile off the departure end of Bartow's runway 5.
Edit: More likely, from further information, about 1/2 NM from the approach end of 23.
The two on board own a hangar home at Spruce Creek Fly-In, which is about 80 NM northeast of the crash site.
 
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I was deathly afraid this was a friend of mine. I had seen his airplane was in Florida, and the accident aircraft looked just like it. Yeah, ruptured tanks with no fuel spillage, no fire. Certainly points a finger. I wonder if the airport they were headed to had cheap gas. Go in as light as you can to reap the savings. I've done that more than once, though I still had enough fuel to make the flight and a reserve.

I've read they were low, VFR under a layer. Low and possibly slow on approach, and the engine cuts out. Bad juju in a Mooney. RIP. I hate to see fatal crashes, I especially hate to see them happen to my Mooney brethren.
 
Gas is pretty cheap at KBOW. 3.50 - 3.66 per gallon self serve. It has been VERY foggy and misty here in FL the last couple of days. This morning was the worst it has been all week. Maybe half mile visibility in some places.
 
steingar said:
I was deathly afraid this was a friend of mine.
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Startled me for a moment as well. The Dennis Powell I know lives in Iowa so probably not him...
 
Latest update on the news,the Mooney was in a formation flight of 4.
 
frfly172 said:
Latest update on the news,the Mooney was in a formation flight of 4.
Click to expand...

Yes flight of 4 from Spruce Creek Air Park over nr. Daytona Beach, No use speculating too much as to the cause, fuel ? Medical condition ? Mechanical ? as there wasn't any post crash fire I expect it will help the NTSB guys reach their conclusions pretty quickly.

I don't think the weather played any part in this incident, it was very busy around Bartow last Thursday morning and pilots were confirming airport in sight at least 3 miles out.


Whatever the reason it's very sad RIP.
 
Sad. Especially if the cause is something as pithy as fuel starvation.
 
In the photo I saw the tanks were breached (Mooneys have wet wings) and there was no fire. Indicative (though not proof) of fuel starvation. That's why I asked about the price of gas. The really sad thing is if they kept it under control the outcome would have been a lot different. Moneys are stout. A guy crashed into a house a couple years ago and walked away. Had they been able to put it down under control I think they'd have made it out in one piece.

Fly the airplane into the crash. Keep it under control. Way better to crash under control into the neighborhood than stall/spin trying to stretch the glide. The insurance company will either fix your airplane or buy you a new one. They would much rather you trash the airplane, medical expenses dwarf aircraft repairs.
 
^yeah I was surprised by the amount of destruction to the frame.. with a Mooney's glide ratio I'd certainly have assumed a far better outcome than this
 
Ryanb said:
Fuel starvation and exhaustion are two different things.
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Good point, I should have said exhaustion for accuracy. My Mooney has the fuel selector on the floor in front of the pilot seat. I pretty much have to do some autofellatio to change tanks. De minims I have to unlatch my shoulder strap. I have a violent fear of running a tank dry in the pattern. I am not at all certain I could unlatch my shoulder belt, reach down, find the sector and get it changed and get the restart before we hit terra firms. I trend always change tanks at the to of the descent to avoid this possibility.

That said had one of the tanks ample fuel I would have expected quite the fire in a breach of that magnitude.
 
steingar said:
That said had one of the tanks ample fuel I would have expected quite the fire in a breach of that magnitude.
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I wouldn’t, this violent of an impact would cause fuel to be dispersed. Here is video of a Cirrus in a what may be a similar crash, notice the cloud of fuel that’s ejected on impact, and it didn’t catch on fire either.

 
steingar said:
Good point, I should have said exhaustion for accuracy. My Mooney has the fuel selector on the floor in front of the pilot seat. I pretty much have to do some autofellatio to change tanks.
Click to expand...

No kidding... How that design ever got past initial testing is a wonder. I am always afraid I will get it as far as "OFF" and get a cramp or something and not be able to finish switching. :(
 
steingar said:
Good point, I should have said exhaustion for accuracy. My Mooney has the fuel selector on the floor in front of the pilot seat. I pretty much have to do some autofellatio to change tanks. De minims I have to unlatch my shoulder strap. I have a violent fear of running a tank dry in the pattern. I am not at all certain I could unlatch my shoulder belt, reach down, find the sector and get it changed and get the restart before we hit terra firms. I trend always change tanks at the to of the descent to avoid this possibility.

That said had one of the tanks ample fuel I would have expected quite the fire in a breach of that magnitude.
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Talk to @Salty . He fashioned a simple PVC tool to reach down and turn the selector. Better than doing a contortionist routine.
 
A Mooney pilot I gave a BFR to a number of years ago had fashioned a short length of PBC pipe with notches in one end. The notches were 180 degrees apart and matched the width and depth of the fuel selector. No more Mooney aerobics, just use the pipe to turn the selector.
 
Half Fast said:
Talk to @Salty . He fashioned a simple PVC tool to reach down and turn the selector. Better than doing a contortionist routine.
Click to expand...

Arnold said:
A Mooney pilot I gave a BFR to a number of years ago had fashioned a short length of PBC pipe with notches in one end. The notches were 180 degrees apart and matched the width and depth of the fuel selector. No more Mooney aerobics, just use the pipe to turn the selector.
Click to expand...

Still doesn't solve the problem of going head down in the landing pattern. I doubt it would work for me, since I sit in the forward most positioning the cockpit because of my diminutive stature. I can't see the fool thin unless I unlatch my shoulder belt and bend hard over. Like I said, I'm doing that at the top of the descent where there aren't a lot of airplanes to run into.
 
Tanks can breach and spill plenty of gas without igniting. I was on scene of a Mooney that crashed in to a tree ( VFR into IMC). Gas was coming from the tank that broke the whole time, but no fire. I'll wait for the NTSB report.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
ateamer said:
Tanks can breach and spill plenty of gas without igniting. I was on scene of a Mooney that crashed in to a tree ( VFR into IMC). Gas was coming from the tank that broke the whole time, but no fire. I'll wait for the NTSB report.
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I don’t know if this is just my perception, but it seems most crashes that erupt in flames are urban landings with power lines, concrete/metal structures, and where the plane skidded on landing.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I wouldn’t, this violent of an impact would cause fuel to be dispersed. Here is video of a Cirrus in a what may be a similar crash, notice the cloud of fuel that’s ejected on impact, and it didn’t catch on fire either.

Click to expand...
I had seen that video before, and it makes me cringe every time. I can only imagine the sheer terror that she, her husband, and her brother-in-law experienced for a few seconds before impact.
 
steingar said:
Still doesn't solve the problem of going head down in the landing pattern. I doubt it would work for me, since I sit in the forward most positioning the cockpit because of my diminutive stature. I can't see the fool thin unless I unlatch my shoulder belt and bend hard over. Like I said, I'm doing that at the top of the descent where there aren't a lot of airplanes to run into.
Click to expand...
I would not fly a mooney in that situation.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I wouldn’t, this violent of an impact would cause fuel to be dispersed. Here is video of a Cirrus in a what may be a similar crash, notice the cloud of fuel that’s ejected on impact, and it didn’t catch on fire either.

Click to expand...

Fallsrider said:
I had seen that video before, and it makes me cringe every time. I can only imagine the sheer terror that she, her husband, and her brother-in-law experienced for a few seconds before impact.
Click to expand...


What was the reason the Cirrus plane crashed? I was trying to see if the prop was turning but couldn't tell.
 
That's an interesting video. Thanks. The flap issue over the three go-arounds was interesting. Lots of other factors as well.
 
jallen0 said:
That's an interesting video. Thanks. The flap issue over the three go-arounds was interesting. Lots of other factors as well.
Click to expand...

Here is another similar crash, again a Cirrus but could happen to anybody:


 
The low speed and flap retraction at the end were the final error. The failure to slow down and extend full flaps early in the first approach ruined it, and similarly the second. When the ATC kept her speed up, she should have been killing altitude. That was repeated the second time too. They did treat her gently as she failed to achieve what they wished, but they should not have been thinking out loud as they re positioned her. At about 300 hours in type, and recent hours, I am surprised she was not better in getting speed and altitude right for the first two approaches. I have had a controller put me in a position from which I could not "save" the landing, when they vectored me across the approach end of the main runway, turned 180. and cleared to land on the cross runway. Way too high, but tried anyway, 40 degrees of flap, 30 degree banked slip, and still in the air at the halfway point, so went around. They brought me back to the main runway, at a reasonable altitude, I set down just past the numbers. Very sad how this turned out. She should have been high enough to recover from the stall if she reacted quickly.
 
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