Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Flying Cloud Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55347
Thursday, July 19, 2001 17:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was observed proceeding westbound from the airport at a low altitude. A witness said, "I watched and listened thinking he would soon apply power and climb. The engine noise was smooth sounding but low. The plane was not gaining altitude and slowly losing altitude." The witness said the airplane flew parallel to, and north of the road in front of her house. "As it crossed the point of my driveway, the plane banked slightly, hit the tree tops and crashed and exploded." Control tower communications revealed that shortly after being instructed to contact departure control, the pilot responded, "two hotel whiskey - engine failure". An examination of airframe records showed that a new engine was installed at the annual inspection on February 5, 2001. The airplane logged approximately 75.7 hours from the time of the annual inspection to the time of the accident. An examination of the airplane's engine revealed that three teeth from the camshaft gear were fractured. An additional eight teeth were crushed, in total rendering the camshaft unable to be driven. A Materials Laboratory examination of the camshaft gear and fractured gear teeth showed two of the three teeth indicating signs of fatigue. The third tooth showed evidence of overstress. Rockwell hardness measurements made on the gear portion of the camshaft gear showed an average hardness of Rockwell 64HR30-N. Specification drawings for the camshaft gear indicated that the gear teeth should be hardened by gas-nitride process to a hardness of Rockwell 69HR30-N, minimum.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fractured camshaft gear and the pilot not maintaining aircraft control. Factors relating to this accident were metal fatigue in the camshaft gear teeth, the inadvertent stall, the low airspeed, and the trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/19/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | EDEN PRAIRIE |
| Event State | MINNESOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 55347 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 444924N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0932929W |
| Event Location Airport | Flying Cloud Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FCM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 906 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1744 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FCM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 906 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3029 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12127 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 19 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2002 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2HW |
| NTSB Number | CHI01FA220 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M-20R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 29-0099 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3368 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 5 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 76 |
| Airframe Hours | 340 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JOEL W. HOIUM & MICHAEL J. HOLTE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1206 N. MAIN STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | ABERDEEN |
| Aircraft Owner State | SD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 57401 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FCM |
| Departure City | EDEN PRAIRIE |
| Departure State | MN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ABR |
| Destination City | ABERDEEN |
| Destination State | SD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 26 2002 10:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27L |
| Runway Length | 3909 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |