CHI05CA207

The airplane sustained substantial damage on impact with an object and a field during an aerial application maneuver. The pilot stated, "The contributing factor or cause of the accident was the aircraft was flying into the sun at 8:00 AM in the morning making visibility bad. The reason for flying into the east sun was to avoid flying directly at a house. [A] pivot was the object struck causing damage enough to constitute landing in the potato field adjoining the field being sprayed."

On July 31, 2005, about 0800 eastern daylight time, an Allied Ag Cat Productions, Inc. G-164A airplane, piloted by a commercial pilot, sustained substantial damage on impact with an object and a field near Trufant, Michigan, during an aerial application maneuver. The flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. No flight plan was on file. The pilot reported no injuries. The local flight departed from the Lakeview Airport-Griffith Field, near Lakeview, Michigan, about 0730.

The pilot's accident report stated:

Ag-aircraft was spraying potato field, making end of the field pass, 2

pivots (watering system) were setting perpendicular with the line of

flight, the contributing factor or cause of the accident was the aircraft

was flying into the sun at 8:00 AM in the morning making visibility

bad. The reason for flying into the east sun was to avoid flying

directly at a house. And the second pivot was the object struck

causing damage enough to constitute landing in the potato field

adjoining the field being sprayed.

The United States Naval Observatory showed the altitude and azimuth of the sun as:

[hour:minute] Altitude Azimuth(E of N)

[degrees] [degrees]

...

07:15 17.2 80.8

07:30 19.9 83.2

07:45 22.7 85.6

08:00 25.5 88.0

08:15 28.2 90.6