- Date
- June 4, 2023, 09:05 local (16:05 UTC)
- Place
- Colusa, CA · crashed in rice field
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N6750KGrumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G-164B
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- SAC FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230604005819A
- Case key
- 192307
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 clearance from a power line during a low-level aerial application flight. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s fatigue.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported this was the eighth aerial application flight of the day spraying rice fields. He had made all takeoff’s flying low under a power line about 3/4 mile from the departure end of the runway. He stated that due to the monotony of the flights combined with fatigue and a bi-plane wing configuration, he lost sight of the power line and struck it. The airplane impacted the ground and cartwheeled sustaining substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, vertical and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6750K
- Reported as
- Grumman Acft ENG Cor-Schweizer G-164B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 449-B
- Built
- 1978
- Engine
- Pratt and Whitney R-1340, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Valley Air
- Registered owner
- Valley Air
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Departed
- O08 · Colusa, CA
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 73
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 31, 2021
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 28,000 total · 8,000 in this make and model · 225 in the last 90 days · 225 in the last 30 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.82 inHg
- Observed at
- KMYV, 20 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KMYV 041553Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 24/12 A2982 RMK AO2 SLP100 T02440117 $=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 20, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 24.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N6750K · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.