N600BJ

On July 4, 2023, about 1911 central daylight time, a Piper PA-46-600TP airplane, N600BJ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Houston Executive Airport, (TME), Brookshire, Texas. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot reported that during the final approach, the airplane crossed over the runway threshold about 80 to 85 kts and touched down normally. As the nose landing gear came down, the airplane pulled to the left, so he applied right rudder to straighten it out, then the airplane suddenly veered hard to the right. The airplane did not respond to rudder pedal inputs as expected. As the airplane neared the right side of the runway, the rudder became more responsive, but the right landing gear continued into the grass. The pilot applied left rudder and turned hard to the left, crossed the runway, and exited the left side into the grass. The airplane rotated 180° from the landing direction and came to rest in the mud. The pilot and passenger exited the airplane without further incident.

The black tire marks on the runway were traced back from the airplane’s final resting location, and the tire marks from the accident landing were identified. The sequence of events as indicated by the pilot matched the tires marks on the runway. The main landing gear tire marks had the tired tread pattern evident through the veer to the right. The right gear and nose gear tracks departed the right side of the runway before reentering the runway. After the airplane re-entered the runway, all three tire tracks were solid. During the veer to the left the black marks were moderate to extreme and were intermittent in a few places.

A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the right and left gear wheels fractured from the airplane where the fork attached to the oleo strut tube. The right wing was bent upward about midspan. There was buckling damage to the lower right fuselage just aft of the wing.

The nose gear remained intact and there were no anomalies noted with the gear or the steering system. There was a small impact mark on the aft face of the left side of the steering arm consistent with contacting the stop on the engine mount. The gap between the steering arm and the left and right rollers was measured in accordance with the service letter. On both sides, a 0.015” feeler gage was inserted with a little resistance. The nose gear strut had 1 1/6” of chrome visible.

An Appareo Stratus 2S portable automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) receiver and a multi-function display SD card were retained for data extraction and analysis.