Mooney M20F N6443Q

Summary

On 29 September 1986 at about 02:42 local time, a Mooney M20F registered N6443Q was involved in an accident near Leesburg, Virginia, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

29 September 1986 at 02:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Leesburg, Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Leesburg Muni (W09)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Mooney M20F

Registration

N6443Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

W. Jefferson → Leesburg

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

BFO86FA050

1 person died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

DRG ARRIVAL, THE PLT WAS CLRD FOR A VOR RWY 35 APCH. ALSO, HE WAS ADVISED THAT THERE WERE PROBLEMS WITH THE RWY LIGHTS &THAT OTHER PLTS HAD MADE MISSED APCHS THAT EVENING DUE TO DIM ARPT LIGHTING. HE WAS THEN CLRD TO UNICOM FREQ & TOLD TO CANCEL HIS IFR CLNC AFTER HE HAD LANDED. HOWEVER, BEFORE LANDING, THE ACFT CRASHED ON LVL TERRAIN APRX 1/2 MI NORTHWEST OF THE ARPT WHILE IN A LEFT DESCENDING TURN. AN EXAM OF THE ACFT & ENG REVEALED NO PREIMPACT PART MALFUNCTION/FAILURE. RADAR DATA INDICATED THE ACFT HAD BEGUN A 360 DEGREE TURN AT ABOUT THE TIME IT CROSSED OVER THE THRESHOLD OF RWY 35. SUBSEQUENTLY, IT CRASHED WHILE TURNING THRU A HEADING OF ABOUT 240 DEG. APRX 9 MI SSE AT THE DULLES IAP, THE WX WAS IN PART: 1700' SCATTERED, 2200' BROKEN, VIS 3 MI WITH FOG. WITNESS STATEMENTS & A WX STUDY INDICATED THERE WERE AREAS OF FOG AROUND THE ARPT WITH THE VIS AS LOW AS 1/2 MI. THE REIL LIGHTS & THE PLT CONTROLLED LIGHTING SYSTEM HAD BEEN INOP SINCE 5/15/86, BUT NO NOTAM HAD BEEN ISSUED. THEREFORE, THE RWY LIGHTS (MIRL SYS) HAD BEEN PRESET ON MEDIUM INTENSITY.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.