Narrative:

I closely watched the oil and itt on start and they seemed to rise normally during the start. After power-up all systems appeared normal. The cas message block was clear. My copilot loaded the flight plan into the G1000 on the taxi out. Once in the run-up area I ran the run-up. All systems appeared normal. There were no error messages or red X's on any displays. We made a normal takeoff. On the takeoff run I mentioned to my co-pilot we were looking for a maximum torque of 1313 pounds. The takeoff was normal and we were handed off to departure. Upon switching over we received our class B clearance and turned into their airspace. We ran the climb checklist with all systems normal. Once clear of class B airspace we switched to center. We received our IFR clearance and were assigned FL210 and told to expect FL250 with the next controller. Everything still appeared normal. We were now climbing at 1313 pounds of torque and all systems appearing normal. At about this point our itt climbed a little above 770 and the color changed red. I was a little surprised by this because our torque was still at 1313 pounds. At this altitude and power setting I had never been temperature-limited in my previous meridian. I could almost always climb to about FL260 or FL270 before becoming temperature limited. I reduced the power slightly and as I did so I detected a very noticeable 'tone' or whine. I brought the power back to an itt of around 740 degrees. Torque was now about 1045 pounds. I commented that this tone was unfamiliar to me. I started to review the instruments and tried to locate the reason for the sound. The oil pressure was centered in the green but the oil temperature gauge had a red 'X' through it. Still the tone persisted. It almost sounded like it might be an air leak. It doesn't sound as though the tone was G1000 or normal turbine related. At about this point we received a clearance to climb to FL250 and a frequency change. We were abeam an airport and I wasn't feeling too comfortable about continuing with this 'problem.' the nearby airport supported part 121 aircraft operations and I thought they'd be our best alternate in an emergency. I switched over to the new controller and checked in. We were in a shallow climb with the tone persisting. I changed the cabin altimeter to FL250 with no change in the tone. I really didn't want to have pressurization problems at high altitude. It almost sounded like it could be an air leak. We were then told to return to the original controller. We rechecked in and I told him we had a 'situation' we were trying to resolve. I wanted to remain at FL210 until we did resolve it. The co-pilot and I continued to discuss what could be causing the noise. The oil pressure was right in the middle of the green arc; the oil temperature still had a red 'X' through it. The torque was about 1045 or so and the itt was about 740 degrees. The itt seemed a little high for this torque setting. Since I hadn't flown this particular airplane before; I briefly wondered if this might be normal for it. I didn't think so and still thought we were having a 'problem.' I kept thinking if we're about to have an engine failure then why is the oil pressure ok. If only we had the oil temperature gauge. We discussed the possibility of shutting down the engine. The entire cas message block was clear. There were no instrument indications to tell me what the problem was. We decided to reduce the power slightly. When I did the whine changed in pitch. It was definitely engine related. I told my co-pilot we're going to divert and told ATC as well. I reduced the power slightly more and the resulting vibration made it feel like the engine was going to separate from the airframe. I told my co-pilot we're shutting the engine down and pulled the condition lever to feather. I then told ATC we were declaring an emergency with an engine failure. As soon as the engine stopped the whine disappeared and so did the vibration. Then we got lots of casmessages. We trimmed for best glide and headed for the nearby airport. There was no question we would be able to reach the airport with lots of altitude to spare. My co-pilot offered to run the emergency checklist which we did. He selected and called up the CTAF. Although adrenalin was pumping we maintained good CRM and discussed our options. It was very helpful to have a competent pilot in the right seat. We told ATC our pob and fuel and he kept the airport open for us. Other traffic in the pattern exited and we had lots of help. The winds were calm and we opted to land uphill. The calm wind runway is downhill so we might have opposing traffic. My co-pilot continued to make traffic reports while I flew the airplane. We were high enough to need to make 3 or 4 pattern size turns to lose altitude. We continued to discuss our options while descending. We discussed gear and flap extension as well as being careful not to be too high or low on final. I wanted the approach to be as normal as possible. We elected to lower the gear on a high downwind in case we needed more time for an emergency gear extension. Co-pilot called 3 green. On final we were a little high and lost altitude with s-turns and slips. The actual landing was fairly normal. We landed within first third of the runway. We landed uphill and rolled to a stop about 3/4 of the way down the runway. After stopping the fire department checked to see that all was normal inside. The local FBO towed us off the runway.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-46 Pilot reported high ITT and abnormal vibration leading to inflight shutdown at FL210 and deadstick landing at a nearby airport.

Narrative: I closely watched the oil and ITT on start and they seemed to rise normally during the start. After power-up all systems appeared normal. The CAS message block was clear. My copilot loaded the flight plan into the G1000 on the taxi out. Once in the run-up area I ran the run-up. All systems appeared normal. There were no error messages or red X's on any displays. We made a normal takeoff. On the takeoff run I mentioned to my co-pilot we were looking for a maximum torque of 1313 pounds. The takeoff was normal and we were handed off to Departure. Upon switching over we received our Class B clearance and turned into their airspace. We ran the climb checklist with all systems normal. Once clear of Class B airspace we switched to Center. We received our IFR clearance and were assigned FL210 and told to expect FL250 with the next Controller. Everything still appeared normal. We were now climbing at 1313 pounds of torque and all systems appearing normal. At about this point our ITT climbed a little above 770 and the color changed red. I was a little surprised by this because our torque was still at 1313 pounds. At this altitude and power setting I had never been temperature-limited in my previous Meridian. I could almost always climb to about FL260 or FL270 before becoming temperature limited. I reduced the power slightly and as I did so I detected a very noticeable 'tone' or whine. I brought the power back to an ITT of around 740 degrees. Torque was now about 1045 pounds. I commented that this tone was unfamiliar to me. I started to review the instruments and tried to locate the reason for the sound. The oil pressure was centered in the green but the oil temperature gauge had a red 'X' through it. Still the tone persisted. It almost sounded like it might be an air leak. It doesn't sound as though the tone was G1000 or normal turbine related. At about this point we received a clearance to climb to FL250 and a frequency change. We were abeam an airport and I wasn't feeling too comfortable about continuing with this 'problem.' The nearby airport supported Part 121 aircraft operations and I thought they'd be our best alternate in an emergency. I switched over to the new Controller and checked in. We were in a shallow climb with the tone persisting. I changed the cabin altimeter to FL250 with no change in the tone. I really didn't want to have pressurization problems at high altitude. It almost sounded like it could be an air leak. We were then told to return to the original Controller. We rechecked in and I told him we had a 'situation' we were trying to resolve. I wanted to remain at FL210 until we did resolve it. The Co-pilot and I continued to discuss what could be causing the noise. The oil pressure was right in the middle of the green arc; the oil temperature still had a red 'X' through it. The torque was about 1045 or so and the ITT was about 740 degrees. The ITT seemed a little high for this torque setting. Since I hadn't flown this particular airplane before; I briefly wondered if this might be normal for it. I didn't think so and still thought we were having a 'problem.' I kept thinking if we're about to have an engine failure then why is the oil pressure ok. If only we had the oil temperature gauge. We discussed the possibility of shutting down the engine. The entire CAS message block was clear. There were no instrument indications to tell me what the problem was. We decided to reduce the power slightly. When I did the whine changed in pitch. It was definitely engine related. I told my Co-pilot we're going to divert and told ATC as well. I reduced the power slightly more and the resulting vibration made it feel like the engine was going to separate from the airframe. I told my Co-pilot we're shutting the engine down and pulled the condition lever to feather. I then told ATC we were declaring an emergency with an engine failure. As soon as the engine stopped the whine disappeared and so did the vibration. Then we got lots of CASmessages. We trimmed for best glide and headed for the nearby airport. There was no question we would be able to reach the airport with lots of altitude to spare. My Co-pilot offered to run the emergency checklist which we did. He selected and called up the CTAF. Although adrenalin was pumping we maintained good CRM and discussed our options. It was very helpful to have a competent pilot in the right seat. We told ATC our POB and fuel and he kept the airport open for us. Other traffic in the pattern exited and we had lots of help. The winds were calm and we opted to land uphill. The calm wind runway is downhill so we might have opposing traffic. My Co-pilot continued to make traffic reports while I flew the airplane. We were high enough to need to make 3 or 4 pattern size turns to lose altitude. We continued to discuss our options while descending. We discussed gear and flap extension as well as being careful not to be too high or low on final. I wanted the approach to be as normal as possible. We elected to lower the gear on a high downwind in case we needed more time for an emergency gear extension. Co-pilot called 3 green. On final we were a little high and lost altitude with S-turns and slips. The actual landing was fairly normal. We landed within first third of the runway. We landed uphill and rolled to a stop about 3/4 of the way down the runway. After stopping the fire department checked to see that all was normal inside. The local FBO towed us off the runway.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.