- Date
- August 4, 2021, 10:25 local (14:25 UTC)
- Place
- Wooster, OH
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N1519UAir Tractor AT-502
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-low-alt flying: Low altitude operation/event
- 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
- FAA report
- 20210804014189A
- Case key
- 103629
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 inadvertently collided with powerline wires during an agricultural spraying flight, resulting in a loss of aircraft control and subsequent impact with the ground.
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 he was conducting an aerial application flight and was spraying his third field of the day when while maneuvering to make his next pass under high-tension powerlines he heard a “pop” and the airplane pitched up and started to “fishtail”. The pilot pitched the airplane down to regain control and attempted to maneuver to an open field to land the airplane. The airplane rolled and it felt as if the right wing stalled. The airplane then struck the wires next to the road and cartwheeled into the yard on the opposite side of the street. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage, both wings, the aft fuselage, and empennage. There were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1519U
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-502
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 502-0154
- Built
- 1991
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6A-60A, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Carlson Production Services LLC, doing business as Carlson Ag Aviation
- Registered owner
- Carlson Production Services LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Departed
- BJJ · Wooster, OH
- Airport
- BJJ
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
- 24
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 1,037 total · 310 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- KBJJ, 5 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KBJJ 041356Z AUTO 09004KT 10SM CLR 22/13 A3015 RMK AO2 SLP204 T02220128=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 6, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 395 KB 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 N1519U · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.