History of Flight
On October 24, 2015, at 0753 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20M, N243CW, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain shortly after taking off from Worcester Regional Airport (ORH), Worcester, Massachusetts. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight. There was no radar coverage. Airport security cameras captured partial segments: the airplane took off from runway 11. One camera showed the airplane climbing over the intersection of runway 15 about 1,500 ft from the departure end of the 7,000-ft-long runway; the estimated altitude was about 80 to 90 ft above the runway surface, climbing in a slight right turn. The airplane then flew out of view and reappeared about 16 seconds later heading roughly the opposite direction. Based on the approximate height of the control tower, the airplane appeared about 200 ft above ground in a shallow, climbing right turn. The nose began dropping, the right bank angle increased, and the airplane continued turning right in an increasingly nose-down attitude as it descended into a stand of trees.
Personnel Information
The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single- and multi-engine land and a flight engineer certificate. He held an FAA third-class medical certificate issued July 11, 2014, on which he reported 7,217 total flight hours. The pilot's logbook was not recovered.
Aircraft Information
The four-seat, low-wing airplane was manufactured in 1996. It was powered by a 310-horsepower Lycoming TIO-540 engine equipped with a three-blade, constant-speed McCauley propeller. The most recent annual inspection was completed on April 14, 2015, at which time the airframe had 2,872.8 total flight hours. The engine logbooks could not be located. According to engine manufacturer data, the engine was manufactured in 1993, overhauled in December 2001, and placed in service on the accident airplane on March 1, 2002. The investigation could not determine if the engine received a subsequent overhaul. The manufacturer recommended overhaul every 2,000 hours or 12 years.
Meteorological Information
The 1154 recorded weather observation at ORH included wind from 350° at 8 knots, visibility 10 miles, overcast at 2,700 ft, temperature 1°C, dew point -3°C, and altimeter 30.39 inches of mercury.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The accident site was in flat, wooded terrain. Wreckage was confined to an area extending about 100 ft with no wreckage path; the airplane came almost straight down through the trees. No evidence of smoke or fire was found. The propeller and spinner were separated from the main wreckage and mostly buried; the spinner exhibited fore-to-aft crushing, and none of the three propeller blades showed evidence typical of engine power at impact. All flight control surfaces were accounted for. The left wing separated about 4 ft from the wing root, and the right wing was mostly attached. The left horizontal stabilizer separated; the right remained attached. Flight control continuity was confirmed from surfaces to cockpit. The starter ring showed no evidence of powered rotation at impact. The crankshaft rotated a few revolutions by hand before jamming. The oil suction screen was contaminated with metal fragments. The No. 5 main bearing was partially extruded, holes were found in internal crankcase halves, and the No. 6 connecting rod was broken. The crankshaft fractured between No. 5 and No. 6 cheeks, the camshaft also broke, and case halves were gouged rotationally, consistent with damage while the engine was operating. Metallurgical examination revealed the crankshaft failed in fatigue, with crack initiation from the rear fillet radius of the No. 5 crankpin journal and stable crack growth through nearly the entire No. 8 cheek. Fracture surface markings indicated multiple fatigue crack initiation sites, typically indicating high stress conditions, but most crack growth occurred under high-cycle fatigue loading consistent with lower nominal stress. This pattern suggested overstress conditions of short duration acted to initiate the cracks. The root cause for the overstress was not determined; it was not related to material non-conformance. The crankshaft conformed to drawing requirements for alloy chemistry, case hardness, case depth, and microstructure; core hardness was slightly below specification but not considered relevant. No honeycomb or microcrack features were found. Journal diameters conformed except No. 1 and No. 3 crankpin journals exceeded out-of-round tolerance, but these were undamaged. The JPI 700 engine monitor data did not record the final portion of flight due to internal buffering; captured data showed temperatures climbing during takeoff and an initial power reduction before ending abruptly.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, determined the cause of death as blunt injury. Mild, focally moderate atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries was found, with approximately 40% stenosis of the left anterior descending artery, less than 10% stenosis of the right coronary artery, and no significant stenosis of the left circumflex artery. Toxicology testing by the FAA detected no carbon monoxide or cyanide. Losartan was detected in the liver and blood; it is approved for use by the FAA and not considered impairing.