MIA93FA156 · Mooney M20-J
Mooney M20-J · Accident: loss of engine power during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Easterwood Field (CLL)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA93FA156
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Mooney M20-J
- Aircraft type
- Mooney M20
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N57287
- Operator
- Gray, Thomas W. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Easterwood Field (CLL), College Station, TX
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of engine power
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, not performed
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Jackson, MS, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
BOTH WITNESSES ON THE GROUND AND THE PASSENGERS STATED THAT THE ENGINE DID NOT SEEM TO PRODUCE ADEQUATE POWER, AND THE AIRPLANE USED THE ENTIRE 8,000-FT RUNWAY TO BECOME AIRBORNE. AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PILOT RADIOED TO THE TOWER THAT HE WAS EXPERIENCING ENGINE PROBLEMS AND WAS RETURNING. THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED TO TURN LEFT IN A STEEP TURN ABOUT 200 FT ABOVE THE GROUND. IT THEN COLLIDED WITH TREES AND THE GROUND. THERE WAS OPEN TERRAIN AT THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. CYLINDER COMPRESSION WAS FOUND TO BE 40/80, 30/80, 42/80 AND 72/80. NO OTHER DISCREPANCIES WERE FOUND. THE AIRPLANE WAS MODIFIED TO INCREASE THE TAKEOFF MANIFOLD PRESSURE FROM 36 TO 38.5 IN HG. TWO DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT THE ENGINE HAD QUIT WHILE TAXIING FROM LANDING. A MECHANIC STATED THAT HE ADJUSTED THE THROTTLE LINKAGE TO INCREASE THE IDLE SETTING.
Probable cause
A POWER LOSS FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS DURING TAKEOFF, THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF, AND HIS IMPROPER DECISION TO TURN BACK TO THE AIRPORT WHEN THERE WAS SUITABLE TERRAIN AHEAD FOR THE FORCED LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA93FA156
- Event ID
- 20001211X12975
- Case number
- MIA93FA156
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 423fee5a61c7f58b1a5793d54d2f1fad49050fa51f6e3911bf38a142504017e7; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:28:04.420Z.