Air Tractor AT-301 N8841S

Summary

On 15 July 2007 at about 15:30 local time, a Air Tractor AT-301 registered N8841S was involved in an accident near Lignite, North Dakota, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 July 2007 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Lignite, North Dakota, United States

Coordinates

48.1667, -102.9167

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-301

Registration

N8841S

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kenmare → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI07CA209

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's poor in-flight planning and failure to maintain control of the airplane when he encountered his own vortex turbulence at a low altitude.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane contacted the ground and power lines following a loss of control during an aerial application flight. The pilot reported that prior to spraying, he circled the field four or five times waiting for traffic to clear on a nearby road. He stated he also dropped smoke to make sure the chemical would not drift toward the road. The pilot reported that during the last circle the airplane started to settle until it contacted the terrain. The airplane then bounced and contacted the power lines. The airplane settled back to the ground, and slid across a ditch and the road before coming to rest in a grove of trees. The pilot reported that the airplane most likely contacted a vortex which resulted from the circles he made around the field. In addition, the pilot reported that he did not dump the chemical load when the airplane first started to settle toward the ground.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.