Dell, AR, USA
N759FA
Air Tractor AT802
The pilot departed on his fourth agricultural flight of the day to apply a fungicide agent to the crop. Two witnesses, who saw the airplane during the flight, indicated that the airplane made a steep turn, then lost altitude. Postaccident examination of the accident site revealed, the airplane impacted terrain in a steep attitude. The front of the airplane was heavily damaged, the wings were accordioned-crushed along the wingspan, and the engine was embedded in the ground. Examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any preimpact abnormalities that would have contributed to the accident. Nonvolatile memory was successfully downloaded from the airplane’s engine monitor. A review of the data noted that the accident flight was the 630th session and that no anomalies in the engine parameters were recorded before the end of the recording. The accident is consistent with an aerodynamic stall following a loss of airspeed while the pilot maneuvered at low altitude.
On August 21, 2020, about 1430 central daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-802A airplane, N759FA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Del, Arkansas. The pilot was fatally injured. The flight was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 aerial application flight. The accident flight was to apply a fungicide agent to the crop, and the pilot had performed three flights earlier in the day, before the accident flight. Two witnesses who saw the airplane during the flight indicated that the airplane made a steep turn, then lost altitude. A technical representative from the airframe manufacturer and a Federal Aviation Administration inspector examined the airplane on site. The airplane impacted terrain in a nose-down attitude. The front of the airplane was heavily damaged, the wings were accordioned-crushed along the wingspan, and the engine was embedded in the ground. An on-site examination of the airframe did not identify any preimpact abnormities that would have contributed to the accident. A Satloc GPS was downloaded, and a portable Garmin Aera 660 GPS and an Electronics International MVP-50T engine monitor were sent to the National Transportation Safety Board’s Vehicle Recorder lab for download. The Garmin 660 GPS had impact damage and no data were recovered from the unit. Nonvolatile memory was successfully downloaded from the MVP-50T engine monitor. A review of the data noted that the accident flight was the 630th session, which started recording at 1310:13.00 CDT and ended at 1434:45.00 CDT on August 21, 2020. Review of the data also noted no sudden or change in engine parameters before the end of the recording.
The pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and collision with terrain.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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