The pilot reported that during the first landing attempt at the airport in Holly Ridge, N.C., the Mooney M20TN was too fast, so he performed a go-around.
During his second attempt, he descended and touched down on the runway, however, he overshot his intended landing spot.
He added that he did not believe a safe go-around could be performed after the touchdown, so he decided to continue the landing roll and applied max braking, however, the airplane overran the end of the runway and hit mower equipment located to the right of the runway.
The left wing sustained substantial damage.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to perform a go-around during an unstable approach to land which resulted in a landing area overshoot and a subsequent runway excursion.
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This December 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Just like any other airplane, a Mooney requires you to respect its numbers. As long as you do that, it’s quite docile and a joy to land! My little M20J lands easily and gracefully. It was hard for me to get used to the sight picture at first; so I took a lot of instruction in it and didn’t rush to go solo in it. I landed it just a few weeks ago at W95, Ocracoke, which is not far from Holly Ridge. It was a breeze but I would never have attempted it without a substantial number of landings at larger airports under my belt. One bonus of the Mooney is it’s vertical stabilizer design. It gives the pilot much more purchase in ground effect than similar airplanes. I find that very comforting. But, you gotta’ respect those numbers! 🙂
Plenty of PIC time, but not much in type. Almost any Mooney requires nailing the approach speed. They’re slippery little buggers—extra speed will cause a lot of floating. They’re not nearly as forgiving as the average PA28 or 100 series Cessna.