N11637

On June 7, 1996, about 1400 eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20K, N11637, was substantially damaged when it collided with parked airplanes during an aborted landing at the Danbury Municipal Airport(DXR), Danbury, Connecticut. The two pilots received minor injuries. The local, personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed.

The airplane was returning from an instrument proficiency flight, and a certificated flight instructor was acting as the safety pilot.

In the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, the pilot stated:

"I departed DXR at approximately 1630. . . .We flew to POU [Poughkeepsie, New York] to practice approaches and returned to DXR approximately 2 hours later. We were cleared for a visual approach on runway 17 and clear to land. We touched down, there was a slight bounce, followed by another, and on the third we decided to take off. I applied full power, Dave [the safety pilot] took off some flaps, and the plane started to climb. It leveled off at approximately 30 to 50 feet, turned to the left and would not climb. It set down about 1'000 feet later, approximately 300 feet left of runway 17 and collided with planes parked in front of North American Aviation."

In a written statement by the safety pilot, he stated:

"Upon touchdown, the aircraft became airborne again, During this first ballooning, the aircraft was approximately one foot off of the ground. After the second touchdown, the aircraft ballooned again, this time a little more severe. After the third touchdown, the ballooning was so severe that [the pilot] decided to execute a go-around. During this procedure, the aircraft veered uncontrollably to the left. The aircraft became airborne approximately five feet off of the ground. I grabbed the control wheel of the aircraft only to realize that [the pilot] was already applying full correction. The stall warning horn was not sounding. In a panic to gain altitude, I raised the flaps, since the flap indicator was indicating full flaps, while announcing my actions to [the pilot]. The aircraft lost altitude, crashing into five aircraft which were parked on the ground."

Examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector revealed no mechanical malfunction, nor did either pilot report any.

The FAA Flight Training Handbook, AC61-21A, under bouncing during touchdown stated:

"When a bounce is severe, the safest procedure is to execute a go-around immediately. No attempt to salvage the landing should be made. Full power should be applied while simultaneously maintaining directional control, and lowering the nose to a safe climb attitude. The go-around procedure should be continued even though the airplane may descend and another bounce may be encountered."

Additionally, for go-arounds (rejected landings), it stated:

"When the decision is made to discontinue an approach and perform a go-around, takeoff power should be applied immediately and the airplane's pitch attitude changed so as to slow or stop the descent. After the descent has been stopped, the landing flaps may be partially retracted or placed in the takeoff positions, as recommended by the manufacturer. Caution must be used, however, in retracting the flaps. Depending on the airplane's altitude and airspeed, it may be wise to retract the flaps intermittently in small increments to allow time for the airplane to accelerate progressively as they are being raised. A sudden and complete retraction of the flaps at a very low airspeed could cause a loss of lift resulting the airplane settling into the ground."