Accident Details
On February 10, 2014, at 1630 central standard time, a Piper PA 46-350P, registration N350AR, veered off the runway during landing at Marion Airport (C17), Marion, Iowa. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot and passenger were uninjured. The airplane was registered to Adobe Construction Inc. and operated by the pilot under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight was operating on an instrument rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The flight originated from Page Field Airport (FMY), Fort Myers, Florida, and was destined for C17.
Pilot Statement
The pilot reported that he flew a 3-mile final visual approach to runway 35, which was 3,775 feet long and 100 feet wide, with a surface of asphalt and turf. The pilot described the runway as "mostly dry with patchy compacted snow." When the nose wheel touched down during landing, there was a "violent pulling" to the left. The pilot applied right rudder and right brake but was unable to prevent the airplane from veering left and impacting a 2-foot-high snow bank located several feet off the runway.
Ground Evidence
Photographs of runway 35 showed a mark consistent with a path made by a landing gear wheel that traversed off the right side of the runway's asphalt surface and through a snow-covered gravel edge. This mark in the snow was paralleled by a skid mark on the asphalt surface. Both marks then curved as skid marks off the left side of the runway and into a snow bank, where the airplane came to rest with a collapsed nose wheel landing gear.
Examination of Components
Fractured pieces from the nose landing gear actuator attachment area of the engine mount were optically examined at the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory. The examinations revealed features and deformation patterns on the multiple fractures that were consistent with overstress separations. No indications of pre-existing cracking or corrosion were observed.