The pilot and the flight instructor were climbing out after departing from the airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when the Mooney M20R’s cabin door suddenly opened.
The CFI tried to close the door but could not get it closed properly.
The pilot subsequently returned to the airport to land.
During the landing approach, the pilot was distracted, flew too low, and the airplane hit several approach lights short of the runway threshold.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and empennage, while the pilot and CFI sustained serious injuries.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain the proper glidepath during final approach, which resulted in a collision with the approach lights short of the runway. Contributing was the pilot’s distraction due to the cabin door opening.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This July 2023 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.
I have had this occurrence 3 times in mid-flight. FLY THE AIRCRAFT – that is your primary responsibility. A breeze in the cockpit may be a bit uncomfortable but it’s no excuse for neglecting your primary goal. If you’re so easily frightened/distracted, you should not be a pilot.
Dam…….the plane looks like it was beaten to death with a bat!!!!
Scratch another legacy aircraft and more higher insurance rates…..!
I’m not sure that a 1999 aircraft is ‘legacy’. But he trashed an aircraft valued at about $255,000, more than 2x the average ‘legacy’ Cessna 172.
I’ll bet that he’s very unhappy with his crash landing.!
We keep seeing reports of accidents related to pilots being distracted by doors opening. #1 rule: fly the airplane! Yeah, it’s frustrating, especially if the open door means lots of noise, but rarely is an open door an emergency. Refer to #1 rule. Don’t turn frustration into a disaster.
Fly the plane first, is what is drilled in our heads. With thousands of hours, (over 500 in make/model) and 7,000’ of runway, the instructor did not take the controls, at least not in time, if he did. From the breakdown of the hours listed, he was flying on a steady basis. The PIC had 20 hours in the aircraft, 1,100 total with instrument rating, single/multiengine. The one thing that stood out is their ages. There are many seniors who are sharp and have great reaction time; I am not generalizing, but feel we all owe it to ourselves and the safety of others to at least, on occasion, practice reaction time/ muscle memory exercises in a simulator, and those not doable in a sim, such as the open door in an aircraft with a instructor. We all could use practicing scenarios that require muscle memory and reaction time, for the situations where both of those are important. The instructor was distracted, too, and did not take the controls. I hope they both were able to make a full recovery.
Another click in the insurance rates. Thanks guys.
Regards/J
Inadvertent opening of doors should be included more often in emergency simulation training. We always did that with the 150’s where it was easy to reach behind and around the student and unlatch the door. Did it with windows also.
It’s time for the FAA and the AOPA to collaborate on a battery of tests which must be successfully completed by all prospective private pilot students before they are allowed to continue training. These tests would determine whether or not a prospective pilot can remain calm and focus on the task at hand with aplomb. The test givers would, of course, be tracking a student’s stress levels while introducing the startle factor leading to various levels of fear. Ex-wives and attorneys could be useful here…
Dave S, please read the full report. This was not a brand new student pilot, nor was the innstructor a low time instructor. For all we know they were friends just going for a burger somewhere.