Preliminary Reports
Two Killed in Departure Accident, Socata TBM 700, Nov. 26, 2023, Ludington, Michigan
The pilot and only passenger were killed when the single-engine turboprop went down moments after takeoff from Runway 8 of Mason County Airport. The Part 91 personal flight was operating on an IFR clearance to Tri-State Steuben County Airport in Angola, Indiana. Prevailing weather included visibility of three-quarters of a mile in snow beneath a 400-foot overcast layer, with temperature and dew point equal at -1 deg C.
The airport manager helped the pilot and pilot-rated passenger pull the airplane out of a hangar at 09:45. Ten to 15 minutes passed before it began its takeoff roll. He described the takeoff as “unremarkable” except that the left wing dipped after liftoff and the airplane entered the clouds in a left bank. A witness walking her dog half a mile north of the airport recalled seeing an airplane low over the tree line “with the left wing perpendicular to the ground” and hearing a crash after it disappeared behind the trees.
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