Mooney M20F N6878V

Summary

On 11 November 2010 at about 00:40 local time, a Mooney M20F registered N6878V, operated by John B Welch, was involved in an accident near Copake, New York, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 November 2010 at 00:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Copake, New York, United States

Nearest airport

Walter J Koladza (GBR)

Coordinates

42.1606, -73.4822

Aircraft

Mooney M20F

Registration

N6878V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

John B Welch

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Elyria → Great Barringto

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA11FA055

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to monitor and maintain clearance from mountainous terrain during a visual descent to the destination airport at night, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was approaching the destination airport in night visual meteorological conditions, on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The destination airport was at an elevation of 739 feet mean sea level (msl), located in the vicinity of mountainous terrain. About 10 miles from the destination airport, the pilot elected to cancel his IFR clearance. At that time, the airplane was at 3,900 feet msl and began a descent consistent with a 45-degree entry to a left downwind leg of the destination airport traffic pattern, which was 1700 feet msl. About 2 minutes later, the airplane had descended to 2,400 feet and was approximately 1/4 mile from the 2,000-foot summit of a mountain. About 10 seconds later, the airplane had descended to 2,100 feet, about 1,000 feet horizontally from the summit. The airplane impacted trees near the summit and came to rest about 500 feet beyond the initial impact. The summit was approximately 5 miles southwest from the destination airport. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. The end of civil twilight occurred about 2 hours prior to the accident. Moonset occurred about 1 hour after the accident and the phase of the moon was waxing crescent with only 22 percent of the moon's visible disc illuminated.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.