| Crash location | 32.897777°N, 79.782778°W |
| Nearest city | Mount Pleasant, SC
32.794065°N, 79.862585°W 8.5 miles away |
| Tail number | N2043N |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 02 Jul 2002 |
| Aircraft type | Mooney M20R |
| Additional details: | None |
On July 2, 2002, about 1430, eastern daylight time, a Mooney M20R, N2043N, registered to Clark Chemical Inc., and operated by a private individual, as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed while the pilot was attempting a go-around at East Cooper Airport, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The airplane incurred substantial damage, and the private-rated pilot, the sole occupant, received no injuries. The flight originated from McCollum Field, Marietta, Georgia, the same day, about 1300.
The pilot stated that it had been a routine flight all the way to short final, but the approach speed was a little fast, and the airplane touched down about a third of the way down the runway. He said it bounced once, and he pulled back on yoke, expecting it to settle to the runway, but it bounced again. He said the nose was high so he added power to affect a go-around, but the airplane did not climb as he expected. He said he activated the flap control, intending to raise them just a notch, but accidentally raised the flaps all the way, and the airplane yawed to the left and descended, impacting the ground. The pilot further stated that the airplane incurred damage to its wings, fuselage, propeller, and landing gear, and that there had been no preaccident mechanical failure or malfunction to the airframe, flight controls or engine.
According to a witness, the accident airplane approached for a landing, and it struck the runway in a "nose wheel-first attitude," and subsequently porpoised three or four times. The witness stated that after the last bounce, it appeared that the pilot applied full power, while he maintained a nose-high attitude, about 50 feet above the runway. He said the airplane then banked 90 degrees to the left, descended, and impacted the ground in a nose-low attitude, with either its propeller or left wing before "cart wheeling" and coming to rest in a field to the left of the departure end of the runway.
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed resulting in a stall, an uncontrolled descent, and an impact with the ground during the attempted go-around.