Air Tractor AT 401 N9190Q

Summary

On 27 July 2020 at about 17:08 local time, a Air Tractor AT 401 registered N9190Q, operated by Air Care Inc, was involved in an accident near Burlington, Colorado, 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

27 July 2020 at 17:08

Classification

Accident

Location

Burlington, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Burlington

Coordinates

39.2994, -102.2708

Aircraft

Air Tractor AT 401

Registration

N9190Q

Category

Airplane

Year built

1989

Engines

1

Operator

Air Care Inc

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Burlington → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN20CA311

1 person had minor injuries.

The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from guy-wires during low-altitude agricultural operations.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot flew the agricultural airplane to the designated spray area. He made 3-4 passes on a corn field and surveyed the area for guy-wires (a tower was adjacent to the field). He flew multiple passes around the tower to look for guy-wires but he was not able to get an exact location on the tower’s guy-wires and started spraying the field from south to north, and then west to east. After spraying about 4 passes in the middle of the field and 3 passes on the west end of the field the airplane struck a guy-wire with the right wing. After the airplane hit the wire, the pilot had trouble maintaining altitude. The airplane collided through a single set of power lines and struck the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.