ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 186559
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| Date: | Monday 18 April 2016 |
| Time: | 09:10 |
| Type: |  Air Tractor AT-502 |
| Owner/operator: | Pioneer Flying Service Inc |
| Registration: | N301LA |
| MSN: | 502-0037 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 9585 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34G |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | West Carroll Parish, NE of Oak Grove, LA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | Pioneer, LA (PRI) |
| Pioneer, LA (PRI) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The commercial pilot was conducting his second spray load application of the day to a field located about 1/4 mile north of the accident site. A farmer stated that the pilot’s last passes were to finish up spraying a tight area of the field that had trees at the end. A witness near the accident site saw the airplane turning at low altitude and then rapidly descending until ground impact.
Postaccident examination of the wreckage and ground scars revealed that the airplane impacted terrain in a steep, nose-down attitude with low groundspeed, consistent with an aerodynamic stall. Examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
The pilot had hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). However, the investigation was unable to determine whether the pilot’s underlying hypertension and LVH might have contributed to the accident.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during a turn, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of airplane control at too low of an altitude for a safe recovery.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?nNumberTxt=301LA
Location
Images:
Photo: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Apr-2016 06:30 | Geno | Added |
| 19-Apr-2016 14:59 | Geno | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 08-Jun-2018 12:00 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Jun-2018 12:18 | harro | Updated [Source, Narrative, Photo, ] |
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