Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
R & D Farms Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Willows, California 95988
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 11:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot was making a steep turn during an agricultural aerial application when the airplane's engine lost power. He made a forced landing in a field, and in the process, the airframe received structural damage. The pilot said he had ground crew fuel the left tank of the airplane with the engine still running. He completed three loads, with each load cycle taking about 12 minutes. He then performed a steep turn of about 70-degrees to complete one last pass. About 400 above ground level, the engine lost power and he was unable to restart it. He landed the airplane in the field below, and the airplane skidded about 100 feet and nosed over. The person who recovered the airplane did not observe any fuel in the airplane fuel tanks, or at the accident site.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power for an undetermined reason during an aerial application.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/21/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1100 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Willows |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95988 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 393020N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1215747W |
| Event Location Airport | R & D Farms |
| 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 | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OVE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| 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) | 75 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.19 |
| 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) | 16933 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 21 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1325 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Sacramento FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5653X |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA158 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Ayres |
| Aircraft Model | S2R-T34 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1853r |
| 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 | Apr 3 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 7539.8 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Willows Flying Service |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 1246 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Willows |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95988 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Wade Porter |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO Box 776 |
| Operator City | Durham |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95938 |
| Operator Code | NHZG |
| 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 | 98CL |
| Departure City | Willows, R&D |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1050 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2004 2:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | LABJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |