Accident to the Mooney M20F registered F-HOSJ on 29/01/2020 at Biscarosse

The pilot, manager of a maintenance workshop, accompanied by a passenger, took off from Biarritz-Pays Basque airport (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) bound for Biscarrosse-Parentis aerodrome.

On approach south of the aerodrome, he contacted the tower controller who informed the pilot that he was receiving him intermittently. The aeroplane then experienced a complete loss of electrical power.

Ten minutes later, still south of the aerodrome, the pilot contacted the tower controller with his mobile phone. The latter told him that there was no known traffic in the vicinity of the aerodrome, that the wind was calm and that the runway was free to be used at his discretion. The pilot told the controller that he was going to use unpaved runway 09 and then hung up.

Before joining the downwind leg, the pilot set the landing gear selector to “down” and realised that this would be to no effect because of the loss of electrical power.

He actioned the emergency landing gear extension handcrank without managing to completely extend the landing gear, while turning the long way round south of the aerodrome.

Before landing, at around 50 m from the threshold, the pilot shut down the engine, cut off the magnetos and shortly before touchdown, retracted the flaps in order not to damage them.

The main landing gear touched the runway first. When the nose gear came into contact with the ground, the landing gear retracted. The propeller, windmilling, struck the ground and the aeroplane came to a halt on the runway.

Due to a problem on the battery charge line, the battery powered the electrical equipment until it was completely discharged, leading to a complete loss of electrical power.