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Old 10th Mar 2022, 18:02
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punkalouver
 
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A long time ago, I scared myself in a Mooney. I had been checked out recently on it and wanted to stay current. One should keep in mind that a Mooney is the kind of plane that really floats on landing if the airspeed is just a few knots above the proper approach speed. Anyways, I did not mark down a bunch of quick reference notes(like I now do on the various aircraft I fly, which allows me to reference them and feel reasonably comfortable in flying a particular aircraft after a while).

I arrived at the airport with some knowledge having evaporated. One item was the rotation speed. No problem, I will just look it up in the POH. Unfortunately, it was not in the aircraft, as legally required for a flight. The office where this POH might be was closed. I decided to fly anyways. I would simply just rotate at an airspeed about ten knots faster than what I was guessing was the recommended rotation speed. There was a 15 knot crosswind and I got a huge surprise on the takeoff roll when the aircraft got light on its wheels and quickly went toward the side of the 100' wide runway(although remaining parallel to the centerline). I quickly pulled back, got airborne and learned the lesson of being on the ground but having minimal friction due to having plenty of lift.

I suspect that this could be applicable in this incident. The aircraft appears to float for a while suggesting excess airspeed. There is a break in the video but it does appear that the aircraft is light on its wheels as it veers to the right. The investigators may be looking into a possible situation where significant reverse was selected when there was minimal friction to prevent a lateral excursion. Perhaps, being light on the wheels is not much different than being on a slippery runway. Therefore, it is suggested to ensure the aircraft is firmly on a dry, paved runway prior to applying asymmetric reverse.

Last edited by punkalouver; 18th Mar 2022 at 20:09.
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