Air Tractor 301-300 N8828S

Summary

On 26 February 1998 at about 22:32 local time, a Air Tractor 301-300 registered N8828S was involved in an accident near Woodland, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 February 1998 at 22:32

Classification

Accident

Location

Woodland, California, United States

Coordinates

38.7094, -121.8495

Aircraft

Air Tractor 301-300

Registration

N8828S

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX98LA103

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the pilot to adequately monitor his fuel consumption, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that on approach to the field to be sprayed the engine quit and started to windmill. The pilot made an emergency landing, touched down in soft dirt, and the aircraft nosed over and came to rest inverted. The owner/operator drained approximately 1 1/2 quarts of fuel from each tank at the accident site and reported that it is their general operating practice to refuel each hour, in one tank only. The tanks cross-feed into each other. The owner explained that at a low rpm, the tachometer time will match the time lapse on a wristwatch, but at a higher rpm, the watch lapses at a quicker rate. For example, at a high rpm, 1 hour on a wristwatch will equal approximately 1 hour 10 minutes on the tachometer. After the accident, the pilot reported to the owner that he thought he still had 15 minutes left before refueling. The owner opined that the pilot was using his wristwatch to calculate the time, instead of using the tachometer, which led to fuel starvation. No mechanical defects were noted on the engine during the subsequent teardown inspection.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.