- Date
- September 3, 2020, 08:46 local (12:46 UTC)
- Place
- Hawkinsville, GA · Cotton Field
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N30529Thrush S2R-H80
- 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
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA / FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200903014019A
- Case key
- 101915
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 clearance from an antenna tower while maneuvering during an agricultural application flight while flying directly toward the sun.
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 commercial pilot reported that, while spraying a field during his first agricultural application flight, he flew the airplane over the field east and west and was blinded by the sun. For the next application, he decided to fly north and south over the field, so the sun was not in his eyes. The airplane was operating normally, and he finished spraying the field. He remembered that he was supposed to spray another field to the east, but he could not remember anything after that. The airplane was found resting in the field. The airplane and a 150-ft-tall antenna tower located on the east edge of the field were substantially damaged, and a portion of the tower structure was found entangled with the right wing. The pilot was seriously injured. Review of astronomical data indicated that the sun at the time of the accident in relation to the tower location was almost due east. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N30529
- Reported as
- Thrush S2R-H80
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- H80-108
- Built
- 2012
- Airframe hours
- 2,884.99
- Engine
- General Electric H80-100, 800 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 91
- Operator
- Dawson Brothers Spraying Service Inc
- Registered owner
- Dawson Brothers Spraying Service Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 3, 2020
- Departed
- PVT · Hawkinsville, GA
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 29
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 16, 2020
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 2,610 total · 200 in this make and model · 2,503 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 95 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- K48A, 11 nm away
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 17.1 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.