A small single-engine plane that crashed on Oct. 3, killing five people, was over its weight limit when it took off from a Greenwood airport and crashed in a Lansing, Michigan field an hour later.
The determination that the plane was about 3 percent over its weight limit during take-off and about 1.8 percent over its weight limit during the crash was one finding included in documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, but is not being singled-out as a contributing factor. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
The crash occurred during landing, about 125 yards from the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Michigan. The NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating, a task that could take more than a year to complete.
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The NTSB released a preliminary report that included information about the plane, a 2003 Socata TBM 700, the flight from Greenwood to Lansing, and the two pilots, both Franklin residents.
It will likely take a year to 18 months to determine what caused the crash, said Terry Williams, a NTSB spokesperson.
“There is no analysis or cause at this point. We’re still gathering facts,” Williams said. “We are still in the very early stages of this investigation.”
The first set of facts came from the crash site, about a quarter of a mile from the airport runway where the plane was preparing to land. During its descent, it turned left, rapidly lost speed and altitude, according to data collected from the plane, and crashed in an open field northwest of the runway.
In the minutes leading up to the crash, radio chatter between the pilot and the control tower appeared normal.
The last communication from the pilot, 48-year-old Joel Beavins, came at 8:54 a.m., when he acknowledged that he was clear to land.
Between 8:55 and 8:57 a.m., the plane decelerated to 64 knots, or 74 mph, from 168 knots, or 193 mph. At 8:57, the plane dropped more than 200 feet in about 30 seconds, the report said.
The tower controller attempted to contact the pilot at 8:58 a.m., but never got a response.
The plane had already crashed in the nearby field.
The plane was overweight when it took off and landed, according to investigators’ calculations, which included estimated fuel amounts and approximate weights of the pilots and passengers on board.
The plane had a maximum allowable take-off weight of 7,394 pounds. Investigators estimated the plane’s weight at take-off was about 7,626 pounds, 232 pounds more than the maximum, according to the report. It had a maximum allowable landing weight of 7,024 pounds. At the time of the crash, investigators estimated the plane weighed about 7,150 pounds, about 126 pounds more than the maximum.
Beavins had a commercial pilot license with single-engine land and instrument airplane ratings. His most recent medical clearance was issued on Jan. 4. Beavins had accumulated more than 1,400 hours of flight time, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
The co-pilot, 67-year-old Tim Clark, also had a commercial pilot license with single-engine land and instrument airplane ratings, and was a certified flight instructor. He did not have a medical certificate on file — his last one expired in 2017 — nor did he have a pilot logbook, according to the FAA.
The six men, including the two pilots, three engineers with The Engineering Collaborative in Indianapolis and a contractor, were traveling to Michigan from Greenwood for a site visit. Five people died. A sixth, Aaron Blackford, of Frankton, is still fighting for his life at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, a hospital spokesperson said.
Other immediate findings from the crash site include:
The lower VHF antenna, left main landing gear door and several flap track fairings had separated from the airplane and were located along the wreckage debris path, which was 135-feet long and 42-feet wide;
Cable separations near the left wing root were consistent with overstress;
The right main landing gear retracted into the wheel-well and was not secured by its respective actuator up-lock;
Both fuel tanks ruptured during impact;
The propeller shaft was completely fractured;
Minor foreign object debris was found on the leading edge of several 1st-stage compressor blades;
Blades were bent in different directions;
At the time of the crash, there was a calm wind, 1.25 miles surface visibility and light rain and mist;
The plane’s most recent inspection was June 1;
At that point, it had clocked more than 3,500 hours of flight time;
The plane had no history of mechanical issues.
