MIA99LA229

The aerial application airplane's right wing collided with a tree while working a pattern that was oriented in an east-west direction, causing the airplane to impact the terrain and cartwheel. The pilot reported that during insecticide application some overspray accumulated on the windscreen, leaving an oily residue that obscured his vision when his direction of flight headed into the sun.

On August 18, 1999, about 1845 central daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-402, N1510Z, registered to Producers Flying, Inc., operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 137 aerial application flight, crashed while spraying insecticide near Holly Bluff, Mississippi. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage and the commercially-rated pilot sustained minor injuries. The flight originated from a private airstrip near Holly Bluff about 45 minutes before the accident.

According to the pilot, he had gotten overspray of the insecticide on his windshield, and when his spray run took him toward the direction of the sun, his vision became obscured and the airplane's right wing collided with a tree. The airplane rolled 1 1/4 times, impacted the ground right wing down, and cartwheeled. In statements to the FAA, the pilot added that when his windscreen became obscured, he used the airplane's windscreen washer system to remove the overspray, and the collision with the tree was a matter of preoccupation with the application run as well as blurred vision through the windscreen.

Postcrash examination of the wreckage and interview of the pilot by an FAA inspector confirmed the damage and minor injuries, and that no abnormalities or malfunctions of the engine or airframe existed at the time of the accident.