Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Deerfield, Kansas 67838
Sunday, July 20, 2008 8:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had noticed a fuel imbalance of almost a quarter of a tank after the previous spray flight. The airplane was then serviced with 40 gallons of Jet A fuel through a single point refueling port. The pilot checked the fuel level again and noted the right tank had approximately 1-1/2 inch more fuel than the left tank, or roughly 1/2 capacity in the left tank and between 1/2 and 2/3 capacity in the right tank. He took off with 375 gallons of chemical mix to spray two corn circular fields. He used a left hand reverse racetrack pattern to spray the two circles. Halfway through the application, he checked the fuel gauges and noted both were reading between 1/4 and 1/2 tank. On his final swath of the field, the pilot climbed over a set of power lines. It was his intention to utilize the southerly wind to drift the spray under the power lines to the edge of the field. He performed a right side slip maneuver (right wing down, left rudder) to spray the west circle, leveled his wings, and repeated the maneuver to spray the east circle. He then initiated a 60-degree bank right climbing turn from a height of about 30 feet. The pilot said that during the climbing turn, "altitude and decrease in airspeed felt normal." He looked out the right side of the airplane to check the spray pattern. When he attempted to level the wings at an altitude between 100 and 150 feet, the right wing "continued to drop followed by the nose." He said the stall warning horn never sounded, and there was no aerodynamic buffet. He opened the throttle completely, but the engine did not respond. The airplane struck a pivotal sprinkler and impacted terrain. It was the pilot's opinion that the engine lost power "due to unporting of fuel from the tank to the engine [induced] by the slip maneuver."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot inadvertently stalling the airplane. Contributing factors in this accident were the pilot intentionally performing low altitude maneuvers (side slips), unporting and starving the engine of fuel, and his initiating a climb at low airspeed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/20/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Deerfield |
| Event State | KANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 67838 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 375105N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1010708W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 830 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ULS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3067 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24184 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ASW ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 20 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2008 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Wichita, Kansas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N61318 |
| NTSB Number | DEN08LA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Air Tractor |
| Aircraft Model | AT-402B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 402B-0980 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6000 |
| 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 | Jul 1 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 46 |
| Airframe Hours | 7674 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Tri-Rotor Spray & Chemical |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9170 E. Road 2 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ulysses |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 67880 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| 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 | RBKG |
| 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 | 36K |
| Departure City | Lakin |
| Departure State | KS |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 36K |
| Destination City | Lakin |
| Destination State | KS |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - aerial application |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 22 2008 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| 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 | -- |