Air Tractor AT-502B N50620

Summary

On 2 September 1998 at about 23:40 local time, a Air Tractor AT-502B registered N50620 was involved in an accident near Portales, New Mexico, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 September 1998 at 23:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Portales, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

34.1794, -103.3401

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-502B

Registration

N50620

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Private Strip → Sudan

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW98LA383

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate altitude/clearance during an aerial application. Also causal was the inadvertent ground loop/swerve during the landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was flying westbound into the sun (275 degrees, 7 degrees above the horizon) during an aerial application pass over a cotton field. There was a circular pivotal sprinkler system which extended from the northern center of the field to the southeast. The pilot said that he looked over to adjust his onboard global positioning system and he struck the sprinkler. The impact separated the left main landing gear and initiated a fire in the right hand forward part of the cockpit. The pilot landed the airplane in the adjacent peanut field and the airplane ground looped during the emergency landing attempt. The airplane was destroyed during the subsequent post landing fire.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.