WAYNESBORO, GA, USA
N4411S
Air Tractor AT-301
After completion of spray application while returning to the departure airport, the engine experienced a partial loss of power and engine oil began covering the windscreen. The pilot initiated a forced landing on a road but during the landing roll, the airplane drifted off the road into a ditch and nosed over. Examination of the engine revealed that the head of the No. 1 cylinder was cracked from one spark plug hole to the other.
On August 15, 1997, about 2130 eastern daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-301, N4411S, registered to a private individual, rolled over during the landing roll following a forced landing near Waynesboro, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the flight operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 137 aerial application flight. The airplane was substantially damaged and the commercial-rated pilot, the sole occupant, sustained minor injuries. The flight originated about 2050, from the Burke County Airport, Waynesboro, Georgia. The pilot stated that after completing spray operations during cruise flight while returning to the departure airport, the engine experienced a loss of power followed by oil spray on the windshield. With oil obscuring his vision he landed on a highway and during the landing roll, the left main landing gear traveled off the paved surface of the road onto dirt. The airplane then veered off the road into a ditch and rolled over. Postcrash examination of the engine by an FAA airworthiness inspector revealed that the head of the No. 1 cylinder was cracked from one spark plug hole to the other.
The obscured vision of the pilot due to oil covering the windscreen. Contributing to the accident was the partial loss of engine power due to a cracked head of one of the cylinders and unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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