ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 214529
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| Date: | Saturday 18 August 2018 |
| Time: | 17:27 |
| Type: |  Air Tractor AT-502B |
| Owner/operator: | Lutes Flying Service Inc |
| Registration: | N502RL |
| MSN: | 502B-2823 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2012 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2200 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34AG |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Coldwater, SW of Bronson, Branch County, MI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | Shipshewana, IN (IN65) |
| Shipshewana, IN (IN65) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot was conducting an agricultural application flight in the turboprop-equipped airplane. Data from an onboard GPS unit showed that the airplane had completed 10 spray passes on a field, making right 180° turns after each pass to align the airplane for the subsequent pass. The airplane would climb between 500-700 ft during the first 90° of the turn, then descend during the second 90° of the turn. The airplane's groundspeed decayed to between 37 kts and 63 kts during the previous turns; however, the data did not capture the accident turn. A witness stated that he saw the airplane complete a spray pass, pull up into a near-vertical attitude, then become inverted. The airplane descended straight down and was starting to pull up when it hit the ground.
The airplane impacted terrain in a wings-level, nose-low attitude. No preimpact anomalies of the airframe, engine, or propeller were found. Based on the available evidence, it is likely that the pilot failed to maintain sufficient airspeed during a turn following a spray pass, which resulted in exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack, an aerodynamic stall, and loss of airplane control at an altitude too low for recovery.
Probable Cause: The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering, which resulted in exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack, an aerodynamic stall, and loss of control at an altitude too low for recovery.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=502RL
Location
Media:
Police: pilot killed, as crop-dusting plane crashes in Branch County field https://t.co/42lSdPwYYh pic.twitter.com/ZmRH9svyOy
— FOX 17 (@FOX17) 19 août 2018
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Aug-2018 01:51 | Geno | Added |
| 19-Aug-2018 01:54 | Geno | Updated [Location] |
| 19-Aug-2018 03:34 | Geno | Updated [Operator, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 19-Aug-2018 04:39 | Geno | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source] |
| 19-Aug-2018 07:36 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
| 19-Aug-2018 15:44 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Location, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 22-May-2020 09:25 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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