N850SY

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On September 5, 2011, about 1833 central daylight time, a Socata TBM 700, N850SY, impacted terrain near Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, during a forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to Green Plane LLC, and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The flight originated from the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA), Mosinee, WI, about 1626, and the intended destination was the Waukegan Regional Airport (UGN), Waukegan, Illinois.

GPS track data, retrieved from the Garmin G1000 avionics system on the airplane, depicted the airplane departing CWA about 1626. The airplane remained in the CWA traffic pattern, performing two full stop landings at CWA prior to proceeding toward UGN. At 1653, the airplane took off from runway 8 at CWA and then proceeded southeast for about 5 nautical miles then south for 12 nautical miles where it crossed the Stevens Point Airport (STE) at an altitude of about 12,000 feet mean sea level (msl). After crossing STE, the airplane turned southeast to a heading of 130 degrees. During this portion of the flight, the airplane was in a climb reaching an altitude of about 19,000 feet msl at 1703:15.

Data retrieved from the G1000 indicated that during the climb portion of the flight the roll angle and lateral acceleration were neutral. This indicated that the rudder trim was appropriately set for the climb portion of the flight. As the airplane leveled off and accelerated from the 140 knot indicated airspeed (IAS) for the climb to 200 knots IAS in level flight, the lateral acceleration steadily increased reaching values in excess of 0.15 g (positive values indicate a right sideslip), and the roll angle decreased to values less than -5 (positive values indicate a right roll), corresponding to a left bank in excess of 5 degrees angle of bank. The lateral acceleration remained elevated throughout the remainder of the flight. This and the recorded roll angles indicated that the airplane was flying in a slip.

At 1811:30, the airplane began a descent from 19,000 feet msl and the IAS increased to about 225 knots. As the speed increased, the lateral acceleration increased to about 0.2g. At 1822:33, when the airplane was at 11,000 feet msl and about 7 nautical miles north of the Timmerman Airport (MWC), the avionics system recorded a momentary complete loss of engine torque. At this time the pilot was in communication with the General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) West Departure control position. At 1822:53, the pilot informed the controller that he had a problem with the airplane, later reporting that the problem was related to fuel pressure. The controller advised the pilot of three airports available for landing if necessary, and noted that the airplane had descended 1,600 feet below its assigned altitude of 11,000 feet msl. When the controller inquired as to the pilot's intentions, the pilot elected to continue the flight to UGN. The controller subsequently cleared the flight to 8,000 feet msl and the airplane maintained that altitude for approximately 3 minutes.

At 1829:29, the avionics system recorded another complete loss of engine torque and the pilot reported the loss of power to the controller. Engine power was not restored for the remainder of the flight. At the time of the power loss, the airplane was about 10 miles west of the John H. Batten Airport (RAC), Racine, Wisconsin, at about 7,600 feet msl. The field elevation of RAC was 674 feet msl. At the time of the loss of engine power, the airplane was about 9.25 nautical miles west of RAC. GPS data showed that the airplane turned toward RAC and communications transcripts verified that the pilot was attempting to glide the airplane to RAC for a forced landing. The airplane descended at about 100 knots IAS toward RAC. The accident site and last recorded GPS position were about 3 miles southwest of the approach end of runway 4 at RAC.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with single-engine land airplane and instrument-airplane ratings. He was issued a third-class airman medical certificate, with a restriction for corrective lenses, on April 28, 2011.

The pilot had logged about 2,075 hours total flight time, with approximately 165 hours flight time in the accident airplane. The pilot's logbook included an endorsement dated February 5, 2011, that indicated the completion of a flight review as required by 14 CFR 61.56.

Logbook and training records indicated that the pilot had received type specific training for the accident airplane from SimCom Training Centers, Orlando, Florida, in August of 2010, and from Turbine Solutions, Inc., St Cloud, Florida, in February of 2011. A review of the training records from Turbine Solutions indicated that the pilot had average knowledge of the airplane systems and procedures. The training record noted that the instructor discussed with the pilot the possibility of stepping down to a less complex airplane or having another pilot accompany on long cross country flights. The pilot completed the recurrent training at Turbine Solutions and was issued a completion certificate on February 5, 2011.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The accident airplane was a Socata model TBM 700N, serial number 546. It was a single engine low-wing monoplane of mainly aluminum construction. It had a retractable tricycle landing gear and was configured to seat six occupants. The airplane was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D engine, serial number RV0210, rated to produce 850 shaft-horsepower.

The airframe and engine had accumulated 217.8 hours total time in-service at the time of the accident. The most recent annual inspection was completed on July 28, 2011, at 201.9 hours airframe time. According to maintenance records, the most recent maintenance action was accomplished on August 9, 2011 at 211.6 airframe hours, and involved troubleshooting for a flap problem. There were no subsequent entries in the maintenance logbook.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

Weather conditions recorded by the RAC Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), located about 3 miles northeast of the accident site, at 1853, were: wind from 10 degrees at 11 knots gusting to 19 knots, visibility 10 miles, scattered clouds at 3,600 feet agl, temperature 14 degrees Celsius, dew point 7 degrees Celsius, and altimeter 30.15 inches of mercury.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

The airplane came to rest on a flat farm field facing east and the initial impact point was about 130 feet south of the main wreckage. The initial impact point was located on the north side of a road ditch on the north side of a highway.

The fuselage was fractured at a position near the aft edge of the entry door. The tail surfaces including the elevators, horizontal stabilizers, rudder, and vertical stabilizer, remained attached to the aft fuselage. No damage was evident on the tail surfaces. The elevator trim tabs appeared to be in a neutral position and were aligned with the elevator. The rudder trim tab was displaced tab left about 10 mm (3/8"). The forward fuselage was predominately intact with crushing of the lower fuselage and buckling of the fuselage skins. The engine remained attached to the fuselage and there was bending of the firewall.

Both wings remained partially attached to the fuselage. The wings remained predominately intact with crushing of portions of the leading edge. The left flap was separated at about half span. The outboard portion of that flap was located between the initial impact point and the main wreckage. The inboard portion of the flap remained attached to the wing. The left aileron remained attached to the wing by its outboard hinge. The right aileron remained attached to the wing by its outboard hinge. The right flap remained attached to the wing.

Three propeller blades exhibited rearward bending with some chordwise scratching/abrasion of the leading edge of the blades. The fourth blade exhibited twisting of the blade toward low pitch and chordwise abrasion/scratching of the leading edge of the blade. The propeller blades were not in a feathered position.

There was an odor at the accident site consistent with aviation jet fuel.

Documentation of the various cockpit controls and switches was performed with the following findings:

Power Lever – forward

Propeller lever – forward

Condition lever – Forward

Manual Override – Aft

Flap Lever – Forward (up)

Fuel Selector – Left tank

Landing Gear – Up

Engine Starter – Off

Engine Ignition – Auto

Auxiliary Boost Pump – Auto

Fuel Selector – Manual

Electrical Power Crash lever – Down

After the on-scene examination, the airplane was transported to an enclosed facility for further examination. During this examination, the wing fuel tank inboard access panels were removed and the inside of the fuel tanks examined. The interior of the tanks were clean. The fuel strainers at the fuel pickup were clean. The one-way valves located on the outboard rib of the inboard fuel bay were checked. The valves appeared clean and moved freely. No obstruction of the valves was found.

The airplane was equipped with a Garmin G1000 avionics system with data recording capabilities. The data card was located and recovered after removal of the unit's bezel. The contents of the data card were downloaded for further examination.

The airplane's engine was removed and inserted into a shipping container for examination at the manufacturer's facility. The subsequent examination consisted of disassembly of the engine and disassembly and/or functional testing of the fuel pump, fuel control unit, propeller speed governor, flow divider valve, compressor bleed valve, fuel/oil heat exchanger, solenoid valve, torque limiter, fuel nozzles, and over...