Tbm-900 pilot reported auto trim failure resulting in a diversion. Without maintenance intervention ...

Attributes
ACN	1664749
Time
Date	201907
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SMO.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	TBM 900 / TBM 930
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoflight System
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 45 Flight Crew Total 3460 Flight Crew Type 2336
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

I was given a clearance off of smo to ZZZ1 as follows: depart runway heading; climb to 3000 ft; at the lax 310 radial; turn to heading 265 for vectors to V23 gmn. Upon take off; I experienced an out of trim condition. I turned to heading 265 at R310 off of lax and experienced a temporary loss of control either before or after I turned off (or it disengaged) the autopilot. The plane entered a steep right turn and loss of altitude. I fought the controls to a stabilized climb on course. During this time; I deviated outside of the acceptable altitude and course limits. When handed off to approach from tower; I broke through the clouds on top and was able to maintain a heading. However; the plane was badly out of trim. I discovered in flight that the auto trim motor was inop. I attempted to move it manually and it would not move. I reset the breaker and that did not resolve the issue. I advised ATC of the issue and diverted to ZZZ2. I shut down and refiled to ZZZ1. On start up the issue did not repeat itself.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TBM-900 pilot reported Auto Trim failure resulting in a diversion. Without maintenance intervention the failure did not repeat on subsequent flight.

Narrative: I was given a clearance off of SMO to ZZZ1 as follows: Depart runway heading; climb to 3000 ft; at the LAX 310 radial; turn to heading 265 for vectors to V23 GMN. Upon take off; I experienced an out of trim condition. I turned to heading 265 at R310 off of LAX and experienced a temporary loss of control either before or after I turned off (or it disengaged) the autopilot. The plane entered a steep right turn and loss of altitude. I fought the controls to a stabilized climb on course. During this time; I deviated outside of the acceptable altitude and course limits. When handed off to approach from tower; I broke through the clouds on top and was able to maintain a heading. However; the plane was badly out of trim. I discovered in flight that the auto trim motor was inop. I attempted to move it manually and it would not move. I reset the breaker and that did not resolve the issue. I advised ATC of the issue and diverted to ZZZ2. I shut down and refiled to ZZZ1. On start up the issue did not repeat itself.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Tbm-900 pilot reported auto trim failure resulting in a diversion. Without maintenance intervention the failure did not repeat on subsequent flight.