Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Montgomery Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Diego, California 92131
Sunday, October 26, 2003 14:19 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane landed hard on a highway while attempting to perform a go-around from runway 28R. The pilot received a preflight weather briefing from 1120 to 1131 and was advised he could not file IFR into the destination airport due to the closure of the TRACON and the airport ATCT due to a major forest fire threatening the facilities. He was advised he "might be able to get in VFR." He filed IFR to an intersection located in the vicinity of his destination airport. Once the flight arrived in the general destination area, the pilot canceled his IFR clearance and flew visually to the airport. After attempting to land runway 28R, he applied power for a go-around. He retracted the flaps but left the landing gear down, and did not put the propeller control in the full forward position. As the pilot maneuvered during the go-around he turned into a tailwind situation and the airplane was unable to maintain a climb. The airplane descended to impact on a highway. A post crash fire erupted and consumed the airplane. The POH for the airplane states that the propeller control should be at a high rpm during landing. For a go-around procedure, the POH indicates that the pilot should apply power, retract the flaps to the takeoff position [10 degrees], and then retract the landing gear and remaining flaps once the airplane accelerates to 91 mph (77 knots) IAS. A post-accident inspection revealed that the propeller governor control arm was 3/8-inch from the low pitch stop. A METAR was issued at 1414 that noted the wind was from 070 degrees at 6 knots, gusting to 14 knots. No discrepancies were found duirng an examination of the engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to configure the airplane properly for the go-around which resulted in degraded climb performance, and his failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in a stall. The tailwind was a contributing factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/26/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1419 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Diego |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92131 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324856N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170822W |
| Event Location Airport | Montgomery Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MYF |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 427 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 80 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KMYF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 427 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Indefinite (V V) |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17322 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 26 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 24 2005 9:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1147N |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA028 |
| 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 | M20K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 25-0596 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 15 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 45 |
| Airframe Hours | 3306 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Paul Kortopates |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Diego |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92131 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KSJN |
| Departure City | St. Johns |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KMYF |
| Destination City | San Diego |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28R |
| Runway Length | 4577 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |