- Date
- July 15, 2020, 07:15 local (11:15 UTC)
- Place
- Washington, NC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2038QAir Tractor AT502
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/ FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200715015439A
- Case key
- 101614
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 maintain directional during landing on a wet grass runway.
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 after the completion of an aerial application flight, during the landing roll on a wet grass runway, the airplane slid off the left side of the runway, where the left wing subsequently impacted corn stalks, which "further drug the aircraft into the corn and ditch." The fuselage, wings, and empennage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2038Q
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT502 (B)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 502B-2878
- Built
- 2013
- Airframe hours
- 2,455.4
- Engine
- P&W Canada PT6A-34AG, 750 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Tim Whitfield Aviation Inc.
- Registered owner
- Tim Whitfield Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 8, 2020
- Departed
- 23NR · Washington, NC
- Destination
- 23NR · Washington, NC
- Airport
- 23NR · Whitfield's East, runway 26, 3,300 × 23 ft, asphalt
- 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
- 70
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 2, 2019
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 15,100 total · 2,500 in this make and model · 14,800 as pilot in command · 162 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- 7W6, 14 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 3, 2020, 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.