SEA03LA128 · Mooney M20-J
Mooney M20-J · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From Renton Municipal Airport (RNT) to Renton Municipal Airport (RNT)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA03LA128
- 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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
- N201DV
- Operator
- Mark W. Hawk · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Renton Municipal Airport (RNT), Renton, WATo Renton Municipal Airport (RNT), Renton, WA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Electrical system, electric motor › Failure
- Landing gear, normal retraction/extension assembly › Failure
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that the airplane experienced an electrical malfunction 2-3 minutes after takeoff. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to reset the electrical system, the pilot attempted to manually lower the landing gear in preparation for a landing. He reported that he was able to actuate the manual gear extension handle, however, the landing gear would not fully extend and lock. After multiple additional attempts to fully lower the gear, the pilot initiated a landing with the main landing gear in the midrange position. Examination of the landing gear system by representatives from the NTSB and FAA revealed that the landing gear actuator housing fractured, and separated from the gearbox. Damage was also noted to the actuator drive coupling. Representatives from the FAA and the manufacturer of the gear assembly conducted the teardown and examination of the electric landing gear actuator motor. During the examination, 14 volts was applied to the actuator motor in an attempt to functionally test the DC motor. The electric motor did not respond, or draw current. Further examination of the motor revealed that the two brushes in the motor were of dissimilar type and design and showed signs of arcing. Additionally, the motors armature showed signs of severe wear. Logbook records indicated that the electric landing gear motor was serviced on February 1, 2001, approximately 39 flight hours prior to the accident. The log entry indicated that the armature shaft and brushes were replaced and that the gear motor was returned to service.
Probable cause
In-flight failure of the electric landing gear motor during the initial takeoff climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA03LA128
- Event ID
- 20030714X01099
- Case number
- SEA03LA128
- 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, coordinates. 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: eb7d1dc2bfffae34c83df3aad9392123a192565cfab06525bb3dd76ea0aa2b02; retrieved 2026-09-22T09:03:43.517Z.