FTW00LA270

While spraying herbicides to a cotton field, the agricultural aircraft was performing a maneuver known as 'trimming the field.' Six witnesses observed the airplane in various stages of the operation, three of whom saw the airplane strike a 180 foot tower and the guys wires that support the tower. After the in-flight collision, the airplane impacted the ground and exploded. Evidence at the site revealed that the airplane struck the guy wires and the tower at about 145 feet AGL. Witness marks on the tower and the guy wires, and the proximity of the wreckage to the tower all corroborated the eye-witnesses' statements. An autopsy did not reveal any pre-existing medical conditions that could have contributed to the accident. Toxicology testing was negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol. Acetaminophen (7.381 ug/ml, ug/g) was detected in the urine. The pilot had performed spraying in these fields in the past, and was aware of the tower.

On September 29, 2000, approximately 1040 central daylight time, a Cessna 188B agricultural airplane, N4983Q, was destroyed upon impacting the ground after striking guy wires and a tower during aerial application maneuvers near Stanton, Texas. The airplane was owned and operated by Bruton Aerial Spaying Inc., of Garden City, Texas. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 aerial application flight. The flight originated from the Big Spring Airport, Big Spring, Texas, about 0848.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft, under contract to the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, was spraying herbicides on two cotton fields. The aircraft was maneuvering in an east/west pattern during the swath runs. Upon completion of the swath runs, the pilot was performing a maneuver known as "trimming the field." Due to the orientation and obstructions (180 foot tower & guy wires) adjacent to the two fields, the pilot had to fly in a north/south pattern to spray the edges of the fields that were missed by the east/west swaths.

There were six witnesses who observed the airplane in various stages of the spraying operation, three of whom saw the airplane strike the guy wires and tower. Excerpts of their written statements follow:

Witness #1 - Driving 1/2-mile north of the accident site: "I was traveling east on Interstate 20 when I noticed a crop duster making a turn. He was traveling north to south. At one point, he made a left turn which carried him west. About a minute after he made the turn, he hit some guy wires on a tower with his right wing and crashed."

Witness #2 - Working in a field 1/2-mile south of the accident site: "[The] pilot had just finished a pass and was banking around and clipped the guideline to a tower. I saw a small explosion instantly [and] he [the airplane] started tumbling to the ground. When he hit, there was another explosion."

Witness #3 - Driving 1-mile southwest of the accident site: "[I] watched a plane come off from spraying, going east. [The airplane] circled south and then to the east, then north and headed west. [I] was approx [approximately] 1-mile southwest of a radio tower watching the plane when the plane struck the tower."

An FAA inspector, who responded to the accident site, reported that the airplane was completely destroyed and a post-impact fire consumed the wreckage. Evidence at the site revealed that the airplane struck the guy wires and the tower at about 145 feet AGL. Witness marks on the tower and the guy wires, and the proximity of the wreckage to the tower all corroborated the eye-witnesses' statements.

An autopsy, conducted on September 30, 2000, at the Lubbock County Medical Examiner's Office, did not reveal any pre-existing medical conditions that could have contributed to the accident. The cause of death was: "Inhalation of products of combustion, extensive skin burns, and blunt force injuries sustained in an airplane crash." Toxicology testing, performed at the FAA Toxicology and Accident Research Laboratory, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, were negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol. 7.381 (ug/ml, ug/g) Acetaminophen was detected in the urine.