Air Tractor AT-502 N9185G

Summary

On 7 July 2014 at about 21:15 local time, a Air Tractor AT-502 registered N9185G, operated by Air Assault LLC, was involved in an accident near Carthage, Illinois, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 July 2014 at 21:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Carthage, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Pvt (PVT)

Coordinates

40.4808, -91.0683

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT-502

Registration

N9185G

Category

Airplane

Year built

1993

Operator

Air Assault LLC

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Carthage → Carthage

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN14LA349

1 person had minor injuries.

The airplane’s inability to climb out of ground effect, which resulted from the pilot using a lower power setting than needed for takeoff due to the mechanic’s installation of the wrong engine torque gauge.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was taking off for an agricultural application flight. The pilot stated that, during the takeoff, the engine did not lose power but that the airplane was unable to gain sufficient speed to climb. After realizing the airplane was not accelerating or climbing as expected, the pilot dumped the chemical load in an attempt to gain altitude. The airplane became airborne and cleared a pond at the end of the airstrip, but it then contacted a dirt bank and nosed over on the far side of the pond. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the engine torque gauge, which a mechanic had installed in the airplane about 3.5 months before the accident, was for a lower powered engine. The installation of the wrong gauge resulted in the redline on the gauge being lower than it should have been and likely resulted in the pilot not having an accurate torque indication and using a lower power setting than needed for the takeoff.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.