- Date
- August 19, 1999, 15:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Elko, NV
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9190GAir Tractor AT-802A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 22, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990819012949A
- Case key
- 47120
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 an adequate terrain/obstacle clearance altitude margin while engaged in fire fighting operations.
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 was on a fire retardant application run. He successfully dropped half his load on the fire and went around for another run. On the second pass, the aircraft encountered a strong downdraft as it neared the release point and the pilot recovered at a low altitude. During this process, the left outer wing collided with the top of a juniper tree. The pilot returned to Elko and landed. The most outboard 4 feet of the wing leading edge was crushed aft with rib damage.
Factual narrative
On August 19, 1999, at 1500 hours Pacific daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-802A, N9190G, collided with a tree during a fire fighting aerial retardant application near Elko, Nevada. The aircraft was operated as a public-use aircraft under contract to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), for wildfire suppression operations. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area aerial application operation conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated about 1430 at the Elko airport on the day of the accident and was responding to a wildfire on BLM land.
The pilot reported that he was following a larger aircraft on a fire application run. He successfully dropped half his retardant load on the fire and went around for another run. On the second pass, the aircraft encountered a strong downdraft as it neared the release point and the pilot recovered at a low altitude. During this process, the left outer wing collided with the top of a juniper tree. The pilot returned to Elko and landed. The most outboard 4 feet of the wing leading edge was crushed aft with rib damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9190G
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-802A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 006
- Airframe hours
- 1,449
- Engine
- P&W PT6A-65, 1,200 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Public aircraft · Part 91
- Operator
- U.S. Dept Of Interior, Blm
- Registered owner
- First National Bank Of W. Tx
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1999 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- EKO
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 48
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 12,000 total · 800 in this make and model · 60 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 10 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EKO
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.