- Date
- March 28, 1983, 16:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mountain Park, OK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N6983DPiper PA-18A-150
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830328009949A
- Case key
- 20849
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he was taking off to the north on a highway for a crop spraying operation. The aircraft was loaded with 720 pounds of chemical and 36 gal of fuel. He perceived a breeze from the south but took off north because of a hill to the south. The aircraft was rotated after about 1500 feet with vehicular traffic in sight. To avoid flying over the traffic the pilot turned left over a wheat field bordered by 20-30 foot tall trees. He realized he was not maintaining altitude and became concerned with clearing the trees so he lowered the flaps to 20 degrees and dumped his chemical load. While continuing the turn to avoid the trees, the left wing contacted the ground causing the aircraft to cartwheel to a stop, upright. After the accident the pilot realized that the southerly wind had increased to about 10 mph. Aircraft weight at the time of the accident was aprx 2229 pounds. According to the aircraft log maximum gross weight at takeoff is 2070 pounds.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6983D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18A-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 185511
- Airframe hours
- 1,209
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Ray Quinn
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Unknown · April 1, 1982 · 36 hours before
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
- 22
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 700 total · 36 in this make and model · 624 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 145° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.