20220527005079A

27 May 2022, I received notification from the roc at 1310Z CDT that N579 LA/802 Air tractor had crashed in poinsett county Arkansas and the PIC was being airlifted to the hospital. I arrived on scene at 1545Z CDT. On the morning of 27 may 2022 PIC was performing aerial applications to a rice field under 14 CFR 137 agricultural aircraft operations.

Per PIC statement, ?on the morning of Friday, may 27, 2022, I had just landed for my second load of the day to finish the field. After finishing the field trimming up preparations began. While trimming the south end of the field on a west bound run, the wing tip of the airplane caught a telephone pole. The airplane began to yaw left, gained altitude to approximately seventy-five feet over the wires, and started going into a left downward descent. I held the stick all the way to the right and began applying flaps to hold altitude, however there was no response from the airplane. The airplane hit the ground and cartwheeled before coming to a stop. My loader crew were first on the scene after calling 911. The medical team arrived?.

Witness statement from witness states ?flying west bound in front of my house spraying our rice field when his left wing struck the top of a power pole causing his plane to lose control, the wing tipped causing the wind to get under it blowing him into the power lines which in turn sling shot his plane south bound, took a nose dive into the ground causing it to flip about three times, then 911 was called as we rushed to the scene.?

My investigation concluded the PIC was flying in a westerly direction parallel to a power line on the south end of a rice field, when he struck a wood power line pole at approximately 20 feet from the ground. As the impact did not take the pole down, their was damage to the pole with yellow fiberglass protruding from it at GPS location 35°35'40.19"n 90°54'20.82"w. the left wing tip aerodynamic panel that houses the navigation light was found thirty feet from the contact location in the direction of flight. The airplane continued to fly west for another 850 feet approximately before turning south flying through the power lines at an approximate GPS location of 35°35'40.14"n 90°54'31.57"w.

The airplane continued south dragging power lines while in an extreme left bank as the airplane stalled the left wing made first impacted with the ground leaving a debris path of wing structure. The propellers and nose struck the ground 96 feet from initial impact, at this point the airplane started cartwheeling for 3 rotations as per an eye witness statement. Coming to a rest 350 feet from initial impact resting on its right wing with the firewall facing the sky. The aft fuselage and empennage was wrapped under the right wing bent around towards the front of the airplane all major components of the empennage remained intact. The PT-6 turbine had been torn from the firewall and wrapped around towards the right wing. The right wing structure was heavily damaged but remained mostly intact. The spar of the left wing was the only wing structure still attached to the left side of the airplane. The propeller assembly was found 150 feet from the initial impact location and indicated the engine was operating at the time of impact.