Air Tractor 502B N4203B

Summary

On 23 July 2010 at about 19:00 local time, a Air Tractor 502B registered N4203B, operated by Josh Aukes, was involved in an accident near Whittemore, Iowa, 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

23 July 2010 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Whittemore, Iowa, United States

Coordinates

43.0631, -94.4228

Aircraft

Air Tractor 502B

Registration

N4203B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Josh Aukes

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Whittemore → Whittemore

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10CA434

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to abort the takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he had made four previous agricultural aerial application runs prior to the accident flight, one of which had the same load as the accident flight. He departed to the north since the windsock was indicating a slight northeast wind. The grass airstrip was about 2,640 feet long and was soft due to recent rains. The weather was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. He reported that he put in 10 degrees of flaps, held the brakes, and ran the engine up to 1,700 lbs of torque. After he released the brakes and started the takeoff roll, the airplane encountered a soft spot in the runway, which reduced his ground speed. Halfway down the runway the tail had still not come up, so the pilot “forced the tail up using the trim tab” and by pushing the stick full forward. The pilot eased the forward stick pressure and the tail went back to the ground. He immediately began to dump the load and he put in full flaps. About 100 yards before the end of the runway, the pilot “pulled the stick all the way back and became airborne, but stalled [the] airplane.” The left wing stalled and impacted the ground. The airplane came to rest in a corn field on the edge of the grass airstrip. The pilot reported that he “should have stopped the ground roll when I encountered the wet spot in the strip.” The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing, right wing, and empennage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.