- Date
- July 12, 2004, 11:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Waitsburg, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N23811Air Tractor AT-301
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA-FSDO
- FAA report
- 20040712015929A
- Case key
- 59631
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 aircraft control and his inadequate compensation for the wind conditions during the landing. Gusts and high vegetation were factors.
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 reported that while landing at an airstrip, and flaring to a three point landing, a gust of wind or "dust-devil" pushed the aircraft to the left side of the airstrip. The pilot reported that it happened so fast that he was unable to make a correction before the spray boom caught on the bordering wheat. The airplane veered to the left and spun around approximately 180 degrees before coming to rest on the side of the strip in the wheat field.
Factual narrative
On July 12, 2004, about 1100 Pacific daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-301, N23811, registered to a private individual and operated by Red Baron Aviation as a 14 CFR Part 137 aerial application flight, collided with vegetation during the landing at an airstrip near Waitsburg, Washington, and subsequently ground looped. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the local flight. The aircraft was substantially damaged and the commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured.
The pilot reported that while landing at an airstrip, and flaring to a three point landing, a gust of wind or "dust-devil" pushed the aircraft to the left side of the airstrip. The pilot reported that it happened so fast that he was unable to make a correction before the spray boom caught on the bordering wheat. The airplane veered to the left and spun around approximately 180 degrees before coming to rest on the side of the strip in the wheat field.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N23811
- Reported as
- Air Tractor AT-301
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 301-0432
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney R1340, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Dennis Buddrius
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Departed
- Waitsburg, WA
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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 9,078 total · 217 in this make and model · 170 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.