- Date
- June 12, 2020, 13:20 local (18:20 UTC)
- Place
- McCurtain, OK
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2085JCessna T188
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-low-alt flying: Aerodynamic stall/spin
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Will Rogers FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200612006589A
- Case key
- 101441
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain the proper airspeed during a low altitude aerial application maneuver and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodymanic stall at too low of an altiutde to recover.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The commercial pilot was conducting an aerial application flight to a field that had a small hill on the north side. After the completion of the second pass, the pilot maneuvered the airplane out of the field to turn away from the hill and to get turned around for another pass. Upon starting the turn back towards the field, the pilot realized that he had not allowed adequate space to perform the turn given the airplane's "current load and environmental conditions." The pilot leveled the wings and attempted to fly over the hill; however, the airplane encountered an aerodynamic stall about 30 ft above ground level and subsequently impacted trees and rocky terrain. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, the left wing, and the empennage. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2085J
- Reported as
- Cessna T188 (C)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- T18803375T
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 7,294
- Engine
- Continental Motors TSIO-520-T, 310 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- AgraTech, Inc., doing business as AgraTech, Inc.
- Registered owner
- AgraTech, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 16, 2020
- Departed
- GZL · Stigler, OK
- Destination
- GZL · Stigler, OK
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 25
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 18, 2019
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,050 total · 843 in this make and model · 2,999.8 as pilot in command · 378.2 in the last 90 days · 152.6 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.29 inHg
- Observed at
- KGZL, 12 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 31, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N2085J · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.