- Date
- September 7, 1985, 09:50 local (16:50 UTC)
- Place
- Wenatchee, WA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7340ZPiper PA-25-235
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850907064299A
- Case key
- 40060
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
After two application runs, plt apparently attempted to shorten the race-track pattern by initiating the inbound turn into a canyon. Acft was observed to climb clear of the canyon wall near completion of turn, but load was jettisoned at this point and the acft descended sharply into a second, narrow canyon just short of the object crop, which was situated on a plateau, and impacted terrain, intense ground fire subsequently consumed non-mettaliic structure of the acft. Investigation revealed the acft impacted with high vertical forces and little forward momentun. No evidence was found of any malfunction or failure in the acft structure, systems or powerplant.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7340Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-25-235
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25-3290
- Airframe hours
- 1,261
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-B2B5, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- Inland Air Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1985 · 118 hours before
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
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,621 total · 670 in this make and model · 6,332 as pilot in command · 70 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- EAT, 6 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.