MOONEY M20F — Villa Rica, GA

What happened

The pilot was performing a personal flight. The airplane departed the traffic pattern, flew 2 miles north, and then turned and flew west for 1 mile. During the final 2 minutes of the flight, the airplane’s ground speed slowed from 102 to 49 mph. After the ground speed decreased to about 55 mph, the airplane abruptly turned left and rapidly descended. The final data return was recorded when the airplane was about 100 ft above ground level and 80 ft from the accident site.

A home surveillance video that captured the final moments of the accident flight showed that the airplane was in a steep descending left bank before impacting the ground. Another home surveillance video captured the sound of the engine until impact.

Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The propeller signatures, cut tree roots, audio recording, and engine data were all consistent with the engine producing power at the time of impact.

The weight and balance of the airplane and flap configuration (either extended flaps of 15° or 33°) could not be determined. Nevertheless, according to the airplane owner’s manual, the airplane’s stall speed likely ranged from 62 to 68 mph. The exact weight and balance of the airplane and flap configuration between extended flaps of 15° or 33° could not be determined. Thus, the available evidence for this accident (the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data, GPS data, and surveillance videos) showed that the pilot likely allowed the airplane’s airspeed to decay below the aerodynamic stall speed for any configuration, which caused the airplane’s critical angle of attack to be exceeded. As a result, the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall and spin from which the pilot was unable to recover.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.