- Date
- July 27, 2020, 07:45 local (12:45 UTC)
- Place
- Hartington, NE
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N9278GCessna A188
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Miscellaneous/other
- 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
- Continental Motors, Federal Aviation Administration, Textron Aviation
- FAA report
- 20200727010659A
- Case key
- 101768
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 ensure that the engine oil cap was installed before takeoff, which resulted in the oil obscuring the pilot’s view through the windshield and necessitated a forced landing on unsuitable terrain. Contributing to the accident were the pilot’s complacency and self-induced pressure to complete the flight.
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 pilot reported that, before conducting a local, aerial application flight, he changed the engine oil. After refueling and loading the airplane with chemicals, the pilot departed. Shortly after takeoff, the windshield became covered with oil, which limited the pilot's visibility. He turned the airplane left toward a grass runway. The pilot did not dump the chemical load, and the airplane had a low airspeed and began to lose altitude. The pilot was not able to attain a climb, so he chose to conduct a forced landing in a cornfield near the end of the runway, during which the wing sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that the reason the oil covered the windshield was that he had not reinstalled the oil cap after changing the oil. He added that he “had gotten out of …[his] routine” while performing the oil change and that ”complacency” and being in a “hurry were also some factors" in the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9278G
- Reported as
- Cessna A188 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18801444
- Built
- 1973
- Airframe hours
- 4,954.4
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D112, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Becker Flying Service Inc
- Registered owner
- Skyview Applicators LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 2020
- Departed
- 0B4 · Hartington, NE
- Destination
- 0B4 · Hartington, NE
- Airport
- 0B4 · Hartington Muni/ Bud Becker Fl
- 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
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Private, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Unknown
- Last flight review
- April 11, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 2,211.6 total · 143.5 in this make and model · 2,050 as pilot in command · 170 in the last 90 days · 127 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- KYKN, 17 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 2, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.2 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.