Air Tractor AT-602 N629LA

Summary

On 30 April 2007 at about 18:00 local time, a Air Tractor AT-602 registered N629LA, operated by Shelby Air Service, Inc., was involved in an accident near Benoit, Mississippi, 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

30 April 2007 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Benoit, Mississippi, United States

Nearest airport

Crop Duster Airstrip (UNK)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-602

Registration

N629LA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Shelby Air Service, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Benoit → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW07CA104

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance with the crops which resulted in a ground loop. A contributing factor was the narrow airstrip

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The right spray boom from the tailwheel equipped agricultural airplane became entangled with tall wheat while landing on a narrow gravel airstrip. The 2,236-hour commercial pilot, who reported having accumulated a total of 128 hours in the same make and model of airplane, lost control of the airplane resulting in a ground-loop. The aft section of the fuselage sustained structural damage. The turbine powered airplane came to rest in an upright position and the pilot was able to exit unassisted. The wheat was displaced approximately four feet from the airstrip's left edge and was growing adjacent to the right edge. Earlier that day, the pilot reported that he had observed wheat entangled in the right spray boom following two previous landings on the same airstrip. An examination of the airplane's right wheel at the accident site revealed that it was free to rotate and that the right brake was not dragging. The wind velocity at the time of the accident was reported between 1 to 3 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.