- Date
- May 25, 2025, 12:14 local (16:14 UTC)
- Place
- Fremont, OH
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N260LAAir Tractor AT-602
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 14, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO, TSB, Air Tractor, Pratt & Whitney Canada
- FAA report
- 20250525004069A
- Case key
- 200206
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 inadequate takeoff performance planning, which resulted in a runway overrun and collision with terrain.
Findings · 2
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 of the aerial application airplane reported that the airplane was near its maximum gross weight with chemicals and fuel onboard. He attempted to take off from a turf and asphalt runway that was 2,650 ft long, beginning with asphalt and then becoming turf about one-third down the runway. The pilot further stated that all engine parameters looked normal during the takeoff roll, but when he attempted to rotate, the airplane did not leave the ground. As the airplane neared the end of the runway, he “pulled” the airplane into the air to clear an 8-ft dike at the end of the runway. The airplane cleared the dike but then settled into a marshy area beyond it, contacting trees and coming to rest upright. The airplane’s fuselage and empennage were substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that in the future, when winds are variable, it would be wise to re-assess airplane loading.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N260LA
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-602 (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 602-1268
- Built
- 2016
- Airframe hours
- 3,907
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6A-65AG, 1,050 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Gibbs Aero Spray
- Registered owner
- Gibbs Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 16, 2025 · 49 hours before
- Airport
- 03OH · Gibbs Fiel, runway 2, 2,200 × 60 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
- 41
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 22, 2024
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 4,433 total · 1,495 in this make and model · 4,353 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 43 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.27 inHg
- Observed at
- S24, 5 nm away
- METAR
- KS24 251615Z AUTO 30008KT 10SM FEW036 BKN075 OVC085 17/10 A3027 RMK AO2
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 14, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.9 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.