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Atlas / NTSB / ERA24LA086

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA24LA086

2023-10-22 Morganton, North Carolina, United States Airport · MRN None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N5954Q

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

MOONEY M20C

Year of manufacture

1965 · 58 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19651007

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A7B2ED

Registrant of record

DOMINIQUE JON ANDREW

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control during the takeoff roll, which resulted in a runway excursion and an impact with the runway’s precision approach path indicator (PAPI) lights.

Factual narrative

The pilot and passenger reported that the airplane had undergone recent maintenance, and the purpose of flight was to perform a test flight. The first takeoff was made without issue and the pilot landed after performing two go-arounds in the traffic pattern. The pilot then taxied to the ramp and completed a visual inspection of the airplane. Subsequently, the pilot taxied for another takeoff. During the takeoff roll, the airplane began pulling and turning to the left, and despite the pilot’s control applications, the airplane departed the runway and its left wing collided with the runway’s precision approach path indicator (PAPI) lights. The collision with the PAPI lights resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_ERA24LA086.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (runway excursion, go-around, maintenance). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗