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BFO92FA152 · Mooney M20K

20 Sept 1992 · Weston, WV, United States

Mooney M20K · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route

From Yeager Airport (CRW) to Morgantown Municipal Airport Walter L. (Bill) Hart Field (MGW)

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Event

NTSB case
BFO92FA152
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
2 · 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 M20K

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
N99693
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Yeager Airport (CRW), Charleston, WVTo Morgantown Municipal Airport Walter L. (Bill) Hart Field (MGW), Morgantown, WV
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
En route · cruise
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
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Engine assembly, cylinder › Fatigue
  • Engine assembly, cylinder › Separation
  • Engine assembly, cylinder › Undertorqued

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

AFTER BEING ALERTED TO AN OIL STREAK ALONG THE SIDE OF THE AIRPLANE, THE PILOT CHECKED THE OIL AND THEN DEPARTED ON A NIGHT FLIGHT OVER HILLY TERRAIN. WHILE IN CRUISE FLIGHT, THE PILOT REPORTED 'MOTOR TROUBLES' TO APPROACH CONTROL AND RECEIVED VECTORS TO THE CLOSEST AIRPORT. THIS AIRPORT HAD NO RUNWAY LIGHTING. THE PILOT WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN PARTIAL POWER FOR ABOUT 14 MINUTES. DURING THIS TIME, THE ATC CONTROLER WAS UNSUCCESSFUL IN ATTEMPTS TO TURN ON THE RUNWAY LIGHTS AT THE CLOSEST AIRPORT, AND WAS UNAWARE THE LIGHTS WERE OUT OF SERVICE. THE PILOT THEN REPORTED 'ITS DEAD' AS HE APPROACHED THE AIRPORT. HE WAS UNABLE TO LAND AT THE UNLIT AIRPORT, DESPITE GUIDANCE FROM ATC AND ANOTHER AIRPLANE WHICH WAS IN THE VICINITY. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED TERRAIN AND WAS DESTROYED. AN EXAM OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THE NO. 1 CYLINDER HAD SEPARATED FROM THE ENGINE CRANKCASE IN FLIGHT. A METALLURGICAL EXAM REVEALED EVIDENCE OF FRETTING DAMAGE ON THE ATTACHMENT FLANGE AND FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE ATTACHING THROUGH BOLTS AND HOLD DOWN STUDS.

Probable cause

TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO THE INADEQUATE TORQUE OF THE NO. 1 CYLINDER ATTACH BOLTS AND STUDS, FATIQUE FAILURE OF THE BOLTS/STUDS, AND SEPARATION OF THE NO. 1 CYLINDER. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: DARKNESS AND HILLY TERRAIN, WHICH WERE UNSUITABLE FOR A FORCED LANDING.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO92FA152
Event ID
20001211X15608
Case number
BFO92FA152
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1992-09-21.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 759326733c06d749ab39e5f98f53896ede24e7de2f2f48cd294f479eb84994e6; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:55:21.963Z.