ERA15LA177 · Mooney M20J
Pro International Mooney M20J · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during takeoff
From Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (XLL) to Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (XLL)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA15LA177
- 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 M20J
- 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
- N4826H
- Operator
- Pro International
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (XLL), Allentown, PATo Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport (XLL), Allentown, PA
- Aircraft age
- About 36 years (built 1979)
- 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
- 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 engine power (total)
- 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
- Aircraft › Fluids/miscellaneous hardware
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that he departed with about 25 gallons of fuel in the left wing fuel tank and about 7 or 8 gallons in the right wing fuel tank and with the fuel selector positioned to the left wing fuel tank. After departure, he flew the airplane to a local airport to practice takeoffs and landings. During the fourth takeoff, about 30 minutes into the flight, and when the airplane was about 400 to 500 ft above the runway, the engine suddenly stopped producing power. The pilot made a forced landing straight ahead, and the airplane struck a fence.
Postaccident examination revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal engine operation. Examination of the airplane revealed that the left and right wings were damaged, but no fuel was observed leaking from the airplane. About 4 to 5 gallons of fuel was found in the right tank, and about 8 to 12 gallons of fuel was found in the left tank; the fuel found in the tanks was higher than the unusable fuel limit for each tank. The fuel line from the engine-driven fuel pump to the fuel servo was disassembled, and there was no fuel in the line. The fuel line from the boost pump to the engine-driven fuel pump was disconnected, and, when the boost pump was turned, fuel came out in a pulsating spray, which indicates that air was in the line. Based on the evidence, it is likely that there was an interruption of fuel flow to the engine, which resulted in the loss of power; however, the reason for the interruption of the fuel flow could not be determined.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power during takeoff due to an interruption of fuel flow to the engine. The reason for the interruption of the fuel flow could not be determined during postaccident examination and testing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA15LA177
- Event ID
- 20150406X81603
- Case number
- ERA15LA177
- 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: 67dc7e5abcd23946dbc10fe126f747f4f499328a7476c33e80fc5b798dc9d960; retrieved 2026-09-16T02:12:38.745Z.