Fletcher FU-24

Crashed in unknown circumstances while completing a spraying mission. The pilot, sole on board, was injured. The accident occurred during July, exact date unknown.

Crashed in unknown circumstances. The pilot, sole on board, was injured.

The aircraft was engaged in an aerial topdressing operation on a farm near Matamata, sowing a mixture of superphosphate and lime along with some other ingredients. After about two hours of normal operations a break was taken while the farm fertilizer bin was replenished from a truck. This was taken as an opportunity to refuel the aircraft. After the truck had departed the aircraft was loaded with 22 hundredweight ( cwt ) of fertilizer mixture and the 14th flight of the day was commenced. The loader driver lost sight of the plane after it took off and was reloading for the next sortie when he noticed that the fertilizer truck had stopped halfway down the farm road. The truck driver came running back to say that the plane had crashed. The aircraft was found on the side of a gully about 250 metres from the end of the airstrip. It was completely wrecked but there was no fire. This was not a survivable accident. The pilot was killed instantly. Evidence showed that the plane had failed to attain takeoff speed and had lifted off briefly then settled back, striking the rear fuselage heavily against the ground and then running through the fence at the end of the strip in a nose high attitude. It became airborne again colliding with a tree while in a 90-degree bank to the right and dived steeply into the gully. The weather was partly cloudy with a northerly wind of 3 to 5 knots. The visibility was good. Weather does not seem to be a factor.

The single engine aircraft departed Hokitika Airport on a local skydiving flight, carrying four skydivers and one pilot. The ripcord of the reserve parachute of one of the jumpers was snagged as he climbed out of the cockpit and the chute streamed and began to deploy. The jumper struck the tailplane as he was dragged aft, damaging it, and the Fletcher went out of control and dived into the ground. The remaining parachutists all escaped the crashing plane by the use of their parachutes but the pilot, who was not wearing a parachute, was killed in the crash. The jumper whose reserve had accidentally deployed suffered a head injury which rendered him unconscious briefly but landed safely.

The single engine airplane departed Waimate Airport, bound to a local farm for a crop spraying mission, carrying one passenger and one pilot. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing to an altitude of about 300-400 feet, the aircraft entered a stratus area when the engine apparently lost power. The aircraft entered a nose-down attitude then crashed in the Waihao River. The passenger was killed and the pilot was seriously injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed.

Shortly after take-off during a spreading operation the engine suddenly lost power. The pilot dumped the load and operated the fuel boost pump, however after a short burst of power the engine failed completely. The pilot was committed to a downwind landing and towards the end of the landing roll the aircraft ran into a gully and collided with tree stumps. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and the pilot was slightly injured.

The pilot and loader driver arrived in the morning in ZK-CLI, flying over from Stratford. They had been working at the same farm the previous day. At about 08:35 a break in the operation was taken for refueling. The Fletcher was airborne again at about 08:45 carrying 16 hundredweight ( 815 kgs ) of fertilizer, and the pilot flew towards an area of river flat enclosed in a horseshoe bend in the Patea River, surrounded by higher ground. The loader driver reversed his vehicle to the superphosphate bin and began filling the bucket in preparation for the next sortie. As he did so he heard the sound of an impact and, hurrying back to the airstrip, saw the Fletcher crashed nose down on a hillside above the opposite bank of the Patea River, and about 1,200 metres to the northeast of the strip. The driver estimated that about a minute and a half had elapsed between the take off and the sound of the crash. The aircraft was wrecked. There was no fire. The pilot was found dead. The weather was fine with a light breeze. Flying conditions were not considered to be a factor in the accident. The condition of the propeller showed that the engine was producing power at the time of impact. The gross weight and C of G were within the permitted limits. There was evidence of about 250 kg of fertilizer at the crash site. It is believed that the pilot had carried out two sowing runs on the river flat area and was climbing away steeply to clear an adjacent ridge when control was lost during a turn and the plane dived into the ground.

Crashed in unknown circumstances while completing a spraying mission. The pilot, sole on board, was injured. The aircraft was written off.

The pilot, sole on board, was completing a sowing lime mission on a hillside located in the Whitemans Valley, south of Upper Hutt. While turning in the valley to position for another sowing run, the single engine aircraft's left wing and undercarriage struck a small ridge. The plane then collided with a fence, cartwheeled, and dived into the ground. The pilot was killed.

The aircraft took off on its 13th sowing flight of the morning and headed for the sowing area, about 2 minutes flying time away. It was observed by a farmer working some 1.5 km away from the accident site to make its usual pattern of sowing runs for that morning, that is an initial northerly run over the sowing area during which the major portion of the fertilizer load was dispensed, followed by a RH reversal turn to sow the balance of the load. On this last flight however the witness thought that the northerly run was started further north than the previous ones and the reversal turn was preceded by a steeper climb than usual. The witness then saw the plane descending sharply until it passed from his sight behind intervening terrain. This witness heard the impact. The aircraft was found wrecked by another witness who heard a plane pass right overhead his house, followed by the cessation of engine noise and then the sound of the crash. This witness and another person were able to get to the crash site in just a minute or two and found the plane upright and on its belly but wrecked. There was no fire. The pilot was found still strapped in his seat and unconscious. He had incurred serious head and facial injuries from which he died next day. A pathologist's opinion was that the injuries were fatal. Ground evidence showed that the Fletcher had struck with its right wing a power pole on the boundary of the paddock being sown while descending in a right bank, before pivoting and hitting the ground in a yaw to the right, and in a nose down attitude.
Source: ASN