NTSB Factual Report

On May 19, 2011, at 0843 eastern daylight time, a Socata TBM-850, N1UL, sustained substantial damage when the airplane impacted the terrain about 120 feet prior to the approach end of runway 10L (3,404 feet by 50 feet, asphalt) at the Salem Airpark (38D), Salem, Ohio. The private pilot and two passengers were not injured, but a third passenger received serious injuries. The airplane was registered to Urschel Air Leasing, LLC, and operated by Urschel Laboratories, Inc., as a business flight under the provisions of the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. An instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. The flight departed the Porter County Regional Airport (VPZ), Valparaiso, Indiana, at 0722.

The pilot reported that Akron Approach Control cleared the flight to fly the GPS-A instrument approach to 38D. At GEOFF, the final approach fix, the airplane was level at 3,000 feet above mean sea level (msl). The pilot lowered the landing gear and the flaps to begin the descent. The airplane broke out of the clouds about 1,800 feet msl and the pilot proceeded visually to the airport. He circled to the right in order to make a landing on runway 10. The pilot reported that the winds were a direct crosswind from 190 degrees at 10 knots. He reported that he had calculated that the landing distance would be 1,400 feet, and he intended to land near the approach end of the runway. He turned onto the final leg about 2 miles from the airport while maintaining about 85 - 90 knots indicated airspeed (IAS) on the approach with full flaps and descending about 400 feet per minute. He reported that about 1/2 mile from the runway, he thought the airplane was too high, but "a few seconds later" the airplane felt like it "literally just dropped out of the sky." He immediately applied full power and pitched the nose up to perform a go-around, but "the application of power was too late" and the left main landing gear struck the ground about 120 feet prior to the runway threshold. The airplane came to a stop about 120 feet past the runway threshold on the left side of the runway.

The Garmin GPS 1000 MFD (multi-function display) flash card, which recorded the airplane's performance and waypoint data, was downloaded. The recorded data indicated that the airplane's airspeed varied from about 71 - 81 knots IAS during the 10 seconds prior to ground impact. The data also indicated that the airplane's ground speed averaged about 3 - 5 knots higher than the IAS during the final approach. The Socata TBM-850 Pilot Operating Handbook indicates that the stall speed with the airplane in the landing configuration with landing flaps was 64 knots IAS at maximum gross weight.

The pilot indicated in his report to the National Transportation Safety Board that there was no mechanical malfunction or system failure of the airplane.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's failure to maintain a stabilized glide path which resulted in the airplane touching down short of the runway.