Mooney M20M Downed After Uncontrolled Descent From FL230
We've seen versions of this story
before... an unresponsive GA single, aloft in the Flight Levels,
stops answering comms, fighters are scrambled and nothing can be
done until the aircraft runs out of fuel and crashes. Well, it
seems to have happened again.
F-16 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace
Defense Command intercepted a small unresponsive aircraft near
Muncie, IN. today at approximately 0930 MDT.
The civilian aircraft had departed Grand Rapids, Mich. on a
post-maintenance flight and lost communications with ground air
traffic controllers. Upon intercepting the aircraft, the F-16
pilots reported the pilot was unresponsive. F-16 fighters followed
the aircraft until it crashed in a rural area of Randolph County,
IN. near Winchester at approximately 1040 MDT.
Media reports ID the aircraft type as an M20M Mooney, registered
to a Michigan LLC as N400DE, and that the aircraft had
stopped answering queries after a climb to 23,000 feet. Pilots of
the F-16s reported that the pilot was observed in the aircraft,
'slumped over' against the side of the cockpit and failed to
respond to the attempts to rouse him.
NORAD's Michael Kucharek told the media that, "When the pilot
became unresponsive to air traffic control somewhere around
northeast Indiana, we launched fighter aircraft from NORAD,
intercepted the aircraft, made sure the pilot was, in fact, behind
the controls of the aircraft... He was, but unconscious, slumped
over the wheel."
First responders and local law enforcement responded to the
scene, but the pilot, the only one on board the aircraft, perished
in the accident.
NORAD notes that "The intent of military intercepts is to
identify aircraft, re-establish communications with local FAA air
traffic controllers and instruct the pilot to follow air traffic
controllers to land safely for further follow-on action."
Mooney M20M Bravo, N400DE
NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command 'that is
responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime
warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters:
the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the
Canadian NORAD Region at Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental
NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The command is poised
both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to
provide a multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent
potential threats flying over the airspace of the United States and
Canada.'