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MIA08WA082 · Mooney M20C

24 Mar 2008 · Freeport, Bahamas

Mooney M20C · Accident

From Grand Bahama International Airport (MYGF) to Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA08WA082
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
Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
Event fatalities
Unknown
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 M20C

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
N2943L
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Grand Bahama International Airport (MYGF), FreeportTo Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FL
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
Not recorded
Defining eventThe 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
Not recorded
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

No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.

Approximate · Coordinates as the NTSB recorded them, without a stated acquisition method; they lie within 50 km of Freeport, the place the record names, and are not otherwise checked.

NTSB narrative

On March 24, 2008, at about 1345 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20C, N2943L, registered to and operated by a private individual as a 14 Code of federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight, experienced an in-flight break up off the shore of Grand Bahamas, Bahamas. The airplane was substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The private pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The flight originated from the Grand Bahama International Airport (MYGF), Freeport, Grand Bahamas at 1319.

According to the Freeport Approach Control personnel, the pilot departed from MYGF at 1319 enroute to the Port St Lucie County International Airport, Fort Pierce, Florida. The pilot was not in radio communication with the Freeport approach control personnel after his departure, and they did not receive any "MAYDAY" transmissions. Approximately 8 miles west of Grand Bahama Island, a fisherman reported "a loud noise was heard which he thought was thunder and upon looking up, saw what appeared to be an airplane engine falling from the sky. The engine blew up upon hitting the water." Additionally, "several other pieces of what was thought to be an aircraft wing and other pieces of debris fell from the sky." At that point, he maneuvered his boat in the direction of the downed airplane but found only floating debris.

The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Bahamas. Any further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from:

Flight Standards Inspectorate Civil Aviation Department P.O. Box AP 59244 Nassau International Airport Phone: (242) 377-3457 Facsimile: (242) 377-6060

This report is for information purposes only and contains only information obtained for or released by the Bahamian Government.

Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA08WA082
Event ID
20080408X00437
Case number
MIA08WA082
Dataset
full-current
Source SHA-256
5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (2)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. Reported ground fatalities are unverified; onboard allocation and event totals are withheld. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • The date is the UTC date the NTSB stores; the local date may be a day earlier.