LAX95LA091

After completing an aerial application spray run, the pilot executed a climbing 90/270-degree turn. During the turn, the engine sustained a loss of power. The pilot executed an emergency landing in a wet, freshly-plowed open field and subsequently nosed over. The postaccident engine examination revealed the number three cylinder was split between the spark plugs.

On February 1, 1995, at 1545 hours Pacific standard time, a Grumman G-164B, N705Y, flipped over in an open muddy field after executing an emergency landing near Pixley, California. The emergency landing was preceded by a loss of engine power. The pilot was conducting a Title 14 CFR 137 visual flight rules local aerial application flight. The airplane, operated by Pixley Dusters, Inc., of Earlimart, California, sustained substantial damage. The certificated commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated from the operator's private airstrip at Earlimart at 1530 hours.

The operator told a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector that when the pilot was executing a 90/270-degree climbing turn, the engine's number three cylinder cracked. The pilot landed the airplane in the soft field, but flipped over shortly after touchdown.

An FAA inspector reported that he found the cylinder split between each of the spark plugs. It was also split at the top of the plug to the exhaust valve.