- Date
- June 2, 1993, 17:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ganado, TX
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N6752QGrumman G-164A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 19, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930602025879A
- Case key
- 18762
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 with the power lines
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 of an agricultural airplane impacted powerlines on the last pass of the last flight of the day while spraying rice fields. Control was lost and the airplane impacted a flooded rice field in a nose low attitude.
Factual narrative
On June 2, 1993, at approximately 1700 central daylight time, a Grumman G 164A airplane, N6752Q, was destroyed upon impact with power lines and terrain while maneuvering near Ganado, Texas. The commercial pilot, sole occupant of the airplane, was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the aerial application flight. The airplane was owned and operated by Arenosa Flying service of Edna, Texas.
According to the operator, the pilot was assigned to spray fertilizer on rice fields about two and a half miles north of Ganado, Texas, off Farm to Market Road 710 in Jackson County. The collision with the wires occurred as the airplane was completing the last pass on the last flight of the day.
According to witnesses at the accident site, the airplane was spraying on a field traversed from east to west by power lines suspended between towers. The airplane was observed striking the power lines and impacting the flooded rice field in a nose low attitude, coming to rest inverted.
An autopsy and toxicology tests were ordered and performed. The autopsy was performed by Roberto J. Bayardo, M.D, Chief Medical Examiner for Travis County on June 3, 1993. Toxicological reports submitted by the Civil Aeromedical Institute were negative.
The airplane was released to the owner at the accident site on June 4, 1993.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6752Q
- Reported as
- Grumman G-164A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1717
- Airframe hours
- 7,002
- Engine
- P&W R-1340, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Grayson Aviation Services, doing business as Arenosa Flying Service
- Registered owner
- Grayson Aviation Services
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 10, 1993 · 176 hours before
- Destination
- NONE
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
- 71
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 35,000 total · 9,000 in this make and model · 30,000 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VCT, 31 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.