- Date
- August 11, 2025, 14:07 local (20:07 UTC)
- Place
- Kalispell, MT
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N860CASocata TBM 700
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Aerodynamic stall/spin
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 6, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Daher, Federal Aviation Administration, Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile, Transportation Safety Board of Canada, Pratt & Whitney Canada
- FAA report
- 20250811013412A
- Case key
- 200769
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s unstable approach to the runway, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at low altitude and impact with terrain.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the airplane reported that the airplane was too high during approach to the airport, and he responded by reducing the engine power to idle. When the airplane was about 40 ft above the runway, the “airspeed” aural caution sounded, and the pilot added engine power; however, the airspeed continued to decay, and the “stall” aural warning sounded. The airplane subsequently rolled left, impacted terrain alongside the left side of the runway, caught fire, and slid into the airport apron. The pilot and passengers were able to exit the airplane through the main cabin door before the airplane was destroyed by postaccident fire. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N860CA
- Reported as
- Socata TBM 700
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 596
- Built
- 2011
- Airframe hours
- 3,312
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D, 850 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Decagon Services INC, doing business as Decagon Devices INC
- Registered owner
- Meter Sky LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 15, 2024
- Departed
- PUW · Pullman, WA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- S27 · Kalispell City Airport, runway 13, 3,600 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 21, 2025
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,704.6 total · 1,244.9 in this make and model · 1,445.8 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- KGPI, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KGPI 111955Z 16007KT 10SM CLR 29/12 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP162 T02940117
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 6, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.