Air Tractor AT-301 N36531

Summary

On 18 April 2003 at about 22:30 local time, a Air Tractor AT-301 registered N36531 was involved in an accident near Batchelor, Louisiana, 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

18 April 2003 at 22:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Batchelor, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Private Airstrip - Batchelor

Coordinates

30.8333, -91.6667

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-301

Registration

N36531

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bachelor → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03LA136

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to abort the takeoff with adequate runway available. A contributing factor was the high density altitude.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the short field takeoff, the airplane accelerated down the dirt runway and became airborne in ground effect. Passing off the end of the runway, the pilot stated he "could tell that the wheels were [dragging] in the wheat" and thought the airplane could "fly out of it in ground effect." The pilot attempted to dump the chemical load, but pulled the spray handle instead of the emergency hopper dump lever. Subsequently, the right wingtip contacted the ground, the airplane cartwheeled and came to rest inverted. The density altitude was calculated as 1728 feet based on the outside air temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, a dew point of 16 degrees Celsius, and an altimeter setting of 29.91 inches of mercury.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.