Wsk Pzl Mielec M-18A N851EJ

Summary

On 4 August 2018 at about 18:00 local time, a Wsk Pzl Mielec M-18A registered N851EJ, operated by Jersey Devil Dusters LLC, was involved in an accident near Dansville, New York, 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 August 2018 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Dansville, New York, United States

Coordinates

42.2722, -77.6847

Aircraft

Wsk Pzl Mielec M-18A

Registration

N851EJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Jersey Devil Dusters LLC

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hornell → Hornell

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA18CA502

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from crops during an agricultural application flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he was performing an agricultural application flight to a corn field, which had a tree line running west to east on the north side of the field and another tree line running north to south on the east end of the field. He was making application passes from east to west and started at the south side of the field progressing northward toward the tree line with each pass. He added that he noticed that the wind speed increased to about 10 to 12 mph. During the second to last spray pass, while heading west, he came over the east end tree line and descended close to the corn. About 300 ft into the field, the airplane began to descend rapidly, and he pitched the airplane's nose up. He added that the descent continued and that the airplane began to lose airspeed. The landing gear struck the corn, and the airplane impacted terrain and came to rest inverted. The pilot added that he believed a combination of descending air that rolled over the north line of trees, wind shear, the low-altitude flying, and reduced margin of error for the proper application of pesticide caused the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the empennage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. A weather station, located about 3 miles northeast of the accident site reported, about the time of the accident, temperature 85.3°F, dew point 68.3°F, and wind from 293° at 6 mph, gusting to 8 mph.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.