Accidents
Ice/Snow on Wings Blamed for Fatal TBM 700 Crash
Aircraft departed without deicing and stalled and crashed shortly after liftoff

The pilot’s decision to take off with ice and snow contamination on the wings resulting in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain was the probable cause of the Nov, 26, 2023 fatal accident of a Daher TBM 700, according to the NTSB final report. The instrument-rated private pilot and his passenger, a commercial-rated pilot and flight instructor, were killed when the turboprop single crashed and burned moments after taking off from Mason County Airport in Ludington, Michigan, on a planned Part 91 day IFR flight to Angola, Indiana.

Some 15 minutes after being rolled out from an unheated hangar, the pilot taxied to the runway for departure, “with visible snow accumulation on the ground and on the airplane wings, and horizontal stabilizer,” said the report. Visibility was zero with moderate snow showers, and a temperature and dewpoint of -1 degrees C.