Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Oakes Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Guelph, North Dakota 58474
Tuesady, July 12, 2005 17:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was substantially damaged when it struck a guy wire during an agricultural application pass. The pilot reported that prior to the application passes, he circled the field 3 times, "checking for obstructions and assessing the safest manner to complete this application." He noted that he observed power lines running along the north end of the field and he decided to fly parallel to the lines. He stated that during the last pass of the field, adjacent to the power lines, he did not see the guy wire attached to the second to last set of power line poles. He reported that the right wing struck the guy wire, severing about 4 feet of the wing. He noted that the airplane "jerked" to the right and pitched upward. He reported: "At this point I was underneath the wires, [sliding] sideways through the air. I fought to get the nose level. Then the nose pitched down and I [impacted] into the slough in about 3 feet of water."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance to the guy wire during the agricultural application pass. Contributing factors were the guy wire, and low altitude flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/12/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Guelph |
| Event State | NORTH DAKOTA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 58474 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 460100N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0981400W |
| Event Location Airport | Oakes Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 2D5 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 11 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1335 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ABR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1302 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 46 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KABR 122153Z AUTO 05009KT 10SM CLR 29/16 A30 |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18426 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 12 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2005 6:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Fargo FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4232X |
| NTSB Number | CHI05CA183 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Rockwell |
| Aircraft Model | S-2R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2000R |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Jan 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 163 |
| Airframe Hours | 8144 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Widmer Flying Service Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | James Plath |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Oakes |
| Operator State | ND |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| 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 | 2D5 |
| Departure City | Oakes |
| Departure State | ND |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1645 |
| 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 | Maneuvering - aerial application |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 22 2005 5:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| 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 | -- |