The private pilot and owner of a turboprop-converted Piper PA 46-350P that broke up in flight following an encounter with weather in IMC had filed a Part 91 IFR flight plan, although he did not hold an instrument rating, according to the NTSB preliminary report on the June 7 accident near Castalia, North Carolina. The private pilot-passenger in the copilot seat was instrument rated, but he had not logged any actual instrument time or instrument approaches during the 12 months before the accident. All four occupants perished.
Preliminary ATC data indicates the aircraft was on a northeasterly ground track at FL270 when the pilot reported that they were entering an area of rain. The airplane was then observed climbing to FL273, “followed by a rapidly descending right turn and loss of radio and radar contact,” said the preliminary report. ATC weather radar showed that the airplane was near heavy rain and thunderstorms at the time of the accident.
The airplane was manufactured in 2007. In 2017, the original reciprocating engine was removed and a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-35 turboprop engine was installed per a JetProp STC. An annual inspection was completed on April 29. Total time on the airframe was 1,449 hours and the engine had accumulated 226 hours in service since new.