- Date
- May 21, 1994, 16:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Princeton, ID
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N50WSGrumman G-164B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940521036099A
- Case key
- 41930
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
Inadvertent retarding of throttle by pilot. Factors include trees.
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 making application runs when he reached for the spray tank hand valve. His shirt sleeve caught on the throttle and pulled it to the idle position. He tried to push the throttle to full and recover, but the engine did not regain power in time and the airplane impacted some trees. He attempted to jettison the spray agent, but was unable to do so before the impact.
Factual narrative
On May 21, 1994, approximately 1630 Pacific daylight time, N50WS, a Grumman G-164B AgCat, was destroyed when it collided with trees while conducting aerial application activities about three miles south of Princeton, Idaho. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, received minor injuries and was doused with Parathion. There was no flight plan for the flight, which originated at Pullman, Washington about 1558. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no ELT was installed in the aircraft.
The pilot stated that he had made twelve previous rounds bordering the field. During a pull-up maneuver, after reaching for the flow shutoff valve, his sleeve caught the throttle and pulled it to idle. He attempted to recover power by opening the throttle, but the engine coughed and he was unable to regain power before impacting the trees. He also attempted to jettison the spray agent at the last minute, but was unsuccessful.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N50WS
- Reported as
- Grumman G-164B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 140B
- Airframe hours
- 5,500
- Engine
- P&W R-1340, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Fly-It-On, Inc.
- Registered owner
- John Gomez
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 18, 1994 · 51 hours before
- Departed
- PUW · Pullman, 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
- 39
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 785 total · 90 in this make and model · 715 as pilot in command · 82 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 2 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 68 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.