Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kenesaw, Nebraska 68956
Friday, July 27, 2001 10:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained minor damage when it nosed over during an emergency landing following an in-flight loss of a propeller blade tip. The pilot was uninjured. The pilot stated, "While on a actual spray run the aircraft began to shake and vibrate violently. At that time I shut the power down, climbed about 100 ft to look for a place to land. The area was rolling with pasture land and a corn field in front of me, no roads to land on in the area. ... After a rolling out for a short while in corn the landing gear became stuck in corn and soft sandy soil." A portion of the remaining blade, including the separation, was shipped to the NTSB's Materials Laboratory Division. The laboratory's report stated that "a large portion of the fracture surface was on a 90-degree flat plane with multiple ratchet marks and crack arrest marks on this portion of the fracture surface. These features are typical of a fatigue crack. The fatigue crack originated from multiple origins at the bottom of a gouge on the flat face of the blade about 2.25 inches from the blade's leading edge. The fatigue crack extended through about two-thirds of the blade's cross-section. The remainder of the fracture surface (about one-third of the blade's cross section) was on a 45-degree slanted plane and was typical of an overstress region stemming from the fatigue crack." A section was saw cut from the fracture containing the fatigue origin. The paint was removed from the areas near the crack origin and the surface was re-examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The gouge was measured using the SEM. The report further stated, "The length of the gouge was 0.6 inch (1.5 millimeters), and the depth of the gouge was 0.0055 inch (0.14 millimeters). ... Optical examination of the flat face of the blade near the gouge did not show any evidence of blending or rework in this area." The propeller's last overhaul was completed on January 13, 1998. The propeller accumulated 240 hours of flight since that overhaul.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The propeller blade fatigue leading to its tip separating during an aerial application. Factors were no suitable terrain for an emergency landing, high vegetation, and soft terrain encountered during the emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/27/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Kenesaw |
| Event State | NEBRASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 68956 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 95 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HSI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1961 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12446 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 27 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1449 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Lincoln, NE, FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4553K |
| NTSB Number | CHI01IA246 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Air Tractor |
| Aircraft Model | AT-401 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 401-0809 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 7 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 1397 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILLMES, STEVEN J |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 86 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Roseland |
| Aircraft Owner State | NE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 68973 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | WILLMES, STEVEN J |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | PSMG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Roseland |
| Departure State | NE |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 700 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 18 2002 8:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |