Pilot error, overloading caused crash that killed 5 Indiana men

DEWITT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Federal investigators blame pilot error and an overloaded aircraft for a 2019 plane crash near a Michigan airport that killed five Indiana men and seriously injured a sixth person aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the Oct. 3, 2019, crash says the pilot failed to maintain airspeed during his final approach to the Capital Region International Airport, near Lansing, Michigan.

Investigators also said the single-engine Socata TBM 700 was more than 200 pounds overweight and its load was too far back in the aircraft, contributing to it being difficult to control. The plane had taken off from a suburban Indianapolis airport.

Six men were aboard the single-engine plane, which crashed Oct. 3 outside Capital Region International Airport, near Lansing, Michigan. The Socata TBM 700 plane had departed from Indy South Greenwood Airport in Indianapolis and crashed while approaching the runway at Capital Region International Airport.

Neil Alan Sego, 46, of Trafalgar, John Thomas Lowe, 51, of Greenwood and Timothy Joe Clark, 67, of Franklin were all pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

The 48-year-old pilot Joel Beavins also died a few days after the crash. His obituary was posted online by Swartz Family Community Mortuary in Franklin.