Air Tractor Inc AT-602 accident near Oxford, IN
On July 22, 2024, an Air Tractor Inc AT-602 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Oxford, IN. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- July 22, 2024
- Place
- Oxford, IN
- Aircraft
- Air Tractor Inc AT-602 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 40.494°N, 87.286°W
- NTSB ID
- 20240723194748
Official records · CEN24FA278
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn July 22, 2024, about 1830 eastern daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-602 airplane, N602WR, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Oxford, Indiana. The pilot was fatally injured. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 as an aerial application flight. According to the airplane owner and operator, the pilot was spraying two fields near the accident site. The airplane departed with full fuel tanks, and the hopper was loaded with liquid applicant. Onboard GPS data revealed that the airplane departed the operator’s private runway about 1741 and proceeded north. The pilot sprayed two fields beginning about 1752. Immediately before the accident, the pilot was completing a west-to-east trim pass on the south side of the northern field. The recorded GPS data ended near the end of the trim pass. The accident site was located in a soybean field about ½ nautical mile (nm) east of the field being sprayed. Figure 1 shows the airplane’s flight track and the target fields in green. The yellow arrows indicate the direction of the final trim pass, and the yellow circle indicates the final recorded data point. Other flight track data indicated that, after the trim pass, the airplane made a climbing left turn toward the accident site. The final recorded point was about 0.1 nm to the southwest of the accident site. Figure 1. The accident flight track overlaid on Google Earth. The yellow arrows indicate the final portion of the flight, which included a trim pass at the south end of the target field. PERSONNEL INFORMATIO
Probable cause
The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering during an agricultural flight, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and a loss of control at too low of an altitude to recover. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s excessive flap extension during the turn.
More accidents in IN
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Browse: Indiana · Air Tractor aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
