Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Kenny's Cropdusting Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fresno, California
Friday, February 28, 2014 9:55 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On February 28, 2014, about 0955 Pacific standard time, a Grumman G-164A Ag-Cat, N72ES, was substantially damaged during landing at a private agricultural airstrip in Fresno, California. The airplane was owned and operated by Trinkle Ag Flying, Kingsburg, California. The pilot was not injured. The aerial application flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no FAA flight plan was filed for the flight.
The pilot was operating into, and out of, the private airstrip owned by Kenny's Cropdusting, Fresno. The airstrip was equipped with a 1,200-foot-long paved runway, but it was not assigned a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier. The terrain to the east side of the north-south runway was about 5 feet lower than the runway, and the two were separated by an embankment
According to the pilot, the flight was the third one of the day, and he was applying fertilizer. On touchdown to the north, the pilot heard a "huge bang," and the airplane began to roll right wing down. He tried to correct with aileron but was only partially successful. The airplane decelerated, veered to the right after the right wing contacted the ground, and departed the paved surface. As it began descending the embankment, the propeller struck the ground, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane came to rest inverted, partially down the embankment and mostly off the runway. There was no fire or fertilizer spill.
FAA information indicated that the airplane was manufactured in 1972, and was equipped with a Pratt & Whitney R-985 series engine. The airplane had a total time in service of approximately 16,800 hours. Photographs provided by the operator and an FAA inspector revealed that the right main landing gear leg had fractured near the upper bend, just below the fuselage. Preliminary examination of the fracture surfaces revealed characteristics similar to a fatigue fracture. The two sections of the fractured gear leg were sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, DC, for detailed examination and analysis.
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with an airplane single engine land rating. He reported that he had a total flight experience of approximately 2,437 hours, including about 1,943 hours in the accident airplane make and model.
The 0953 automated weather observation at Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, located about 15 miles north of the accident site, included winds from 130 degrees at 18 knots; visibility 10 miles; few clouds at 3,500 feet, scattered clouds at 15,000 feet, a broken cloud layer at 20,000 feet; temperature 17 degrees C; dew point 13 degrees C; and an altimeter setting of 29.55 inches of mercury.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/28/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 955 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Fresno |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 363231N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1194551W |
| Event Location Airport | Kenny's Cropdusting |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 265 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Fresno FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 25 2014 2:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | huhm |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N72ES |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA130 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | GRUMMAN |
| Aircraft Model | G164 - A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 958 |
| 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 | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Trinkle Ag Flying |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kingsburg |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93631 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Trinkle Ag Flying |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Kingsburg |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93631 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 25 2014 4:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 1200 |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |