The single-engine Socata TBM 700 had reduced to just 74 knots at the time of the crash, below the manufacturer's recommended approach speed of 85 knots, according to the assessment, which was released on September 7. Investigators concluded that the aircraft was overweight by more than 91 kilos and that its cargo was positioned too far back, which made it impossible to control.
“The altitude and airspeed trends during the final moments of the flight were consistent with the airplane entering an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude," according to the NTSB's report.
The pilot Joel Stewart Beavins, 48, and Timothy Joe Clark, 67, were both of Franklin, Indiana; John Thomas Lowe, 51, of Greenwood, Indiana; Neil Alan Sego, 46, of Trafalgar, Indiana; and Zechariah Eugene Bennett, 27, of Plainfield, Indiana.
Aaron Levi Blackford, a sixth passenger from Frankton, Indiana, age 42, managed to survive the collision but was seriously hurt. Near Indianapolis, the plane had taken off from Indy South Greenwood Airport. A grassy meadow about 0.48 kilometres from the airport in the Lansing region was where it crashed.
The Delta Energy Park, a natural gas-fired power facility that started running in March, is where four of the six passengers were going to work as contractors, according to the Lansing State Journal.
