- Date
- May 25, 2023, 09:20 local (14:20 UTC)
- Place
- Wright, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N6699QGrumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G-164B
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-low-alt flying: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- 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 FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230525011109A
- Case key
- 192239
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 decision to takeoff with the airplane overloaded which resulted in the airplane settling and subsequently impacting terrain.
Findings · 5
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 his 12th aerial application flight of the day, the airplane was overloaded with fertilizer due to faulty ground loading equipment. Knowing the airplane was overloaded the pilot decided to dump some of the fertilizer over the grass strip during takeoff. As the airplane reached the point on the grass strip that he felt he could safely stop, the “airplane felt like it was wanting to fly” so he continued the takeoff. As the pilot turned toward the field that he intended to apply the fertilizer to, the airplane settled and impacted in a field. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, empennage, and fuselage, and the engine separated from the airframe. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. No Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 certificate was found for the operator and there was no record of a knowledge and skill test for the pilot as required by 14CFR 137.19.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6699Q
- Reported as
- Grumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G-164B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 214B
- Built
- 1977
- Airframe hours
- 12,141.5
- Engine
- Pratt and Whitney R985AN-14B, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- S & S Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- S & S Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 20, 2023 · 65 hours before
- Departed
- Kaplan, LA
- 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
- 40
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 24, 2022
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 464.1 total · 159.5 in this make and model · 428.7 as pilot in command · 89.9 in the last 90 days · 54.6 in the last 30 days · 10.5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- KIYA, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KIYA 251435Z AUTO 03007KT 10SM CLR 24/17 A2992 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E T02370173=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 27, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.1 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.