- Date
- May 23, 2025, 14:35 local (19:35 UTC)
- Place
- Goudeau, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N216TAAir Tractor AT-602
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 2, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration, Baton Rouge FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250523012299A
- Case key
- 200219
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 inadvertent encounter with soft terrain conditions during the landing which resulted in a loss of directional and a subsequent nose-over.
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 stated that during the landing on a dry grass airstrip, the airplane encountered a soft terrain area on the runway. The airplane was then pulled into a softer area toward the edge of the runway where it nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing leading edge and ribs and the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot further reported that the accident could have been prevented by refraining from operating on airstrips with soft runways.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N216TA
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-602
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 602-1227
- Built
- 2013
- Airframe hours
- 7,207.5
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65AG, 1,200 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Tailwinds Air Inc, doing business as Tailwinds Air Inc
- Registered owner
- Tailwinds Air Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Airport
- PVT · Private, runway 360, 2,400 × 149 ft, grass/turf
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
- 66
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 25, 2025
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 38,430 total · 7,100 in this make and model · 38,085 as pilot in command · 422 in the last 90 days · 155 in the last 30 days · 9 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AEX, 50 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 2, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 20.2 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.