MIA08FA094 · Mooney M20M
Mooney M20M · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport (FCI) to Franklin Regional Airport (FKN)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA08FA094
- 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
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Mooney M20M
- 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
- N429RM
- Operator
- Joseph A. Grana III · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport (FCI), Midlothian, VATo Franklin Regional Airport (FKN), Franklin, VA
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The instrument-rated private pilot departed with an instrument flight rules clearance and encountered instrument meteorological conditions shortly after takeoff. He did not establish contact with air traffic control at any time during the flight, nor did he enter controlled airspace on the assigned heading of 180 degrees. According to the NTSB Air Traffic Control (ATC) Radar Study, the flight climbed to approximately 1,800 feet msl, and continued in a direction northwest of the departure airport while turning left, right, and then left with slight changes in altitude. The airplane then began a right descending turn with the bank angle and turn rate increasing beyond the standard rates and angles, and the load factor reached close to maximum limits. At some point near the end of the flight, during the right descending turn, the lower fuselage panel separated and the left rear window separated. The airplane impacted the ground then a house and both were destroyed by impact and postcrash fire.
The pilot's wife reported a previous concern with a stuck flap. Although the impact and fire destroyed sections of the flight control push/pull tubes and components of the flap system, changes in direction to the left and right were consistent with the pilot controlling the airplane. Examination of the wreckage, including the flight control, flap, and speedbrake systems, did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. Additionally, Mooney Flight Test personnel reported that the airplane is controllable with one flap fully extended and the other flap fully retracted. No evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction was noted to the engine or engine accessories.
Risk factors for spatial disorientation were present at the time of the accident, including instrument meteorological conditions and maneuvering flight. The airplane’s sequence of turns during the departure and its subsequent spiral dive were conducive to vestibular illusions. Analysis of the radar data in the airplane performance study showed evidence of a flight path and associated increased g-loading that were consistent with the effects of spatial disorientation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s improper control inputs resulting from spatial disorientation.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA08FA094
- Event ID
- 20080513X00659
- Case number
- MIA08FA094
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: cd4a99ea7edf27ec2521fbfab8358fa11efae3673cc26ec5986985eb8df36fb7; retrieved 2026-09-13T19:04:10.951Z.