VICTORIA, Minn. — A single-engine airplane on a 130-mile hop from Alexandria, Minnesota, crashed into a house and killed three people aboard. Surveillance video nearby showed the plane pulverizing when it struck a street curb, then exploding and crashing in flames through the front of the house and continuing through the house and out the backside. No one was home, neighbors said. On board were James Edney, 72; his stepson, Jacob Mertes, 42; and his wife, Sara Mertes, 37. Apparently the plane was hop-skipping on a 1,300-nile journey from Libby, Montana, with intermediate stops in Wyoming and in Alexandria. The last hop was 135 miles from Alexandria to the Flying Cloud Airport in the southwest Minneapolis suburb of a Eden Prairie. The crash in exurban Victoria was 10 miles short of the runway. The plane, a Mooney M20M, was owned by Edeny, the pilot. He was a general surgeon in Omaha, Nebraska, and professor of surgery at University of Nebraska. Jacob Mertes was a sanitarian and planner for the Lincoln County Health Department in Libby, Montana. Sara Mertes was a physician at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center in Libby.
Moment of impact. Surveillance video shows the plane skipping rooftops across the street, striking a curb, and slamming through a house in the town of Victoria 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis. The crash was about 5:30 p.m.
M20M model called Bravo. The Federal Aviation Administration certified Mooney M20M Bravos as airworthy in 1989. The M model continued in production to 2006. Total M production: 318.
Mooney M20M profile
The Mooney was introduced in 1953 as an especially powerful and fast single-engine piston aircraft. Advanced models have been introduced ever since. In all, 11,00 have been built. Older models sell today for $19,000. Newer ones for $290,000. Pilots love the Mooney for its speed and power, as much as 280 horsepower, and aerodynamics. They also call the plane “slippery” and tricky to land if speed is not controlled carefully. Mooney’s can carry four people. With its 64-gallon fuel tank full, the plane’s range is 700 miles. Empty the craft weighs 3,300 pounds.