- Date
- October 8, 2018, 10:20 local (15:20 UTC)
- Place
- Crowley, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N1500EAir Tractor AT 402
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 26, 2019
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20181008016749A
- Case key
- 98433
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 selection of unsuitable terrain for takeoff, which resulted in a collision with vegetation and a subsequent loss of directional control.
Findings · 4
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 reported that he did not want to take off from the wet grass airstrip he normally used, so he decided to take off from an asphalt road that paralleled the grass on the left side of the airstrip. During the takeoff roll, the left wing collided with tall vegetation, and the airplane veered left and exited the road. The airplane subsequently impacted a drainage culvert. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and the empennage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he did not want to take off from the wet grass airstrip he normally used so he decided to takeoff from the asphalt road that parallels the grass on the left side of the airstrip. During the takeoff roll, the left wing collided with tall vegetation and the airplane veered left and exited the road. The airplane subsequently impacted a drainage culvert. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and the empennage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1500E
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT 402 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 402-0820
- Built
- 1991
- Airframe hours
- 13,655.6
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney PT6A-15AG, 680 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Leleuxs Flying Service Inc.
- Registered owner
- Leleuxs Flying Service Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 28, 2018
- Departed
- PVT · Crowley, LA
- Destination
- 3R2 · Crowley, LA
- Airport
- PVT · Private, runway 180, 2,600 × 25 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- 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
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 29, 2017
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 9,773 total · 3 in this make and model · 9,386 as pilot in command · 157 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KIYA, 10 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 17, 2019, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.9 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.