- Date
- November 18, 1993, 10:45 local (18:45 UTC)
- Place
- Pasco, WA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N8818QAero Commander S2R
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 1, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931118043689A
- Case key
- 41858
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 in command's failure to maintain clearance with the irrigation sprinkler system.
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
Following a pullup from a spray run and transition to straight and level flight, one of the aircraft's main gear impacted the support structure for an irrigation sprinkler system. The aircraft then collided with terrain.
Factual narrative
On November 18, 1993, at approximately 1045 hours Pacific standard time (PST), an Aero Commander S2R, N8818Q, registered to/operated by Air Trac, Inc., and being flown by Gerald R. Titus, a certificated commercial pilot, was destroyed during a collision with an irrigation sprinkler system and terrain. The pilot sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The flight, which was to be conducted for the purposes of aerial application, was to have been operated in accordance with the requirements of 14CFR137 and departed from Carr Airport, near Pasco, Washington, at approximately 1030 hours.
The pilot reported that following a pullup from a spray run and transition to straight and level flight, he "heard a sequence of noise(s), (the) aircraft controls became useless and (the) aircraft impacted the ground."
On site examination revealed black rubber smears on the irrigation sprinkler support structure, and one of the main wheels was observed on the ground a short distance from the damaged sprinkler section and in line with the wreckage distribution track (refer to photograph 1).
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8818Q
- Reported as
- Aero Commander S2R
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1518R
- Airframe hours
- 9,066
- Engine
- P&W 1340-AN-2, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Air Trac, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Air Trac, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 8, 1992 · 206 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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 15,150 total · 11,000 in this make and model · 14,960 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 35 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 2 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.