Air Tractor AT-400A N7307W

Summary

On 16 August 2008 at about 15:00 local time, a Air Tractor AT-400A registered N7307W was involved in an accident near Luverne, Minnesota, 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

16 August 2008 at 15:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Luverne, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

43.6217, -96.2167

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-400A

Registration

N7307W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Luverne → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI08CA257

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the compressor turbine blades which resulted in the loss of power. Factors associated with the accident were the low altitude and the trees.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The accident occurred during an aerial application flight. The pilot reported she had sprayed approximately 40 acres when the engine began making a "popping" sound with a higher pitched whistle. She reported she pulled back on the elevator control to gain as much altitude as possible and began looking for a place to land. She stated that while looking out the right side of the airplane, she noticed flames coming from the right side exhaust stack. The pilot determined she was not able to land on the country road, so she decided to try and fly between a couple of trees to land in an open field. She stated the airplane touched down prior to the trees and it spun to the right, impacting one of the trees with the left wing. Inspection of the engine revealed that all of the compressor turbine blades were damaged with most of them having broken off. Damage was also present to the outlet side of the compressor turbine guide vanes.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.