Air Tractor AT-401 N4530L

Summary

On 4 February 2005 at about 21:15 local time, a Air Tractor AT-401 registered N4530L was involved in an accident near Calexico, 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

4 February 2005 at 21:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Calexico, California, United States

Nearest airport

Johnson Brothers Airport (61CL)

Coordinates

32.6733, -115.5589

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-401

Registration

N4530L

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Calexico → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX05LA085

Nobody was injured.

a loss of directional control due to a jammed rudder pedal, which prevented the pilot from exercising full rudder control authority.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane veered off the runway, collided with a berm, and came to rest in a ditch following a loss of control during landing. During the landing flare the pilot encountered a left crosswind and he input right rudder to compensate for the crosswind, but the pedal would not move. After the accident the pilot noticed that he was still depressing the right rudder pedal. He looked down and saw that the rudder pedal adjusting pin was caught on the aft edge of the hopper. When he relaxed pressure on the rudder pedal, the pedal moved to the left and was free of the hopper. Post accident examination by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed a groove the pin had carved into the side wall of the hopper over time. The groove began at a radius in the hopper wall where the wall turned 90 degrees from a cross cockpit orientation to a longitudinal direction. When he depressed the rudder pedal, he noted that the adjusting pin contacted the groove the entire length of travel. He further noted that despite the contact of the pin in the groove, there was no restriction of movement of the rudder pedal. A gouge dimensionally identical in shape and size to the pin was observed in the hopper just to the right of where the adjusting pin contacted the groove. The FAA inspector noted no groove or gouge on the left side of the hopper.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.