Spraying (Agricultural)

On 5 October 2007, a Fletcher FU24-950M aircraft operated by PT. Sinar Mas Super Air, registered PK-PNZ was conducting aerial agriculture spraying activities at palm plantations of Rokan Estate, Pekanbaru, Riau. The aerial agriculture spraying divided into two sessions. Session #1 was in the morning at 23:35 UTC (06:35 LT) and conducted 27 cycles for about 3 hours flight. Session #1 was in the afternoon after daybreak at 05:00 UTC and conducted 28 cycles. The session #1 was carried out with normal and safely. One Pilot was on-board in the aircraft. The session #2, the aircraft was take-off at 05:00 using runway 18. After take-off, the pilot turned to the left to the fertilization area. The fertilization area was on the left of the runway. The pilot informed while the aircraft turned to the left, he felt the strong wind from the right. Then the aircraft was descending and the left wing hit the palm tree. After losing the wing tip, the aircraft difficult to control and crashed into the palm trees on the left runway for about 238 meters from the end of runway 18. The aircraft was substantial damaged. The pilot suffered minor injured. The weather of that day was clear and wind speed around 6 – 10 knots.

Few minutes after takeoff from Voronovo, the crew encountered engine problems. He elected to maintain altitude but the aircraft descended, collided with trees and crashed in a wooded area located 7,5 km from the departure point, bursting into flames. Both pilots escaped uninjured while the aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire.

Following a crop spraying flight, the crew was returning to Novobratskoye when the captain suddenly died on final approach. As the copilot was unable to regain control in time, the aircraft entered a dive and crashed, bursting into flames. The copilot was injured and the captain was killed.

The crew was completing a crop-spraying flight in the region of Tayinsha, North Kazakhstan. While flying at a height of about 10-15 metres, the crew wanted to impress a group of women working in the field, initiated risky manoeuvres and eventually lost control of the aircraft that rolled steeply to the left and crashed upside down. The aircraft was destroyed and both pilots were seriously injured. Few days later, one of them died from his injuries.

The single engine aircraft departed Krępsko Aerodrome at 1850LT on a local spraying mission part of a beetle control program. About 10 minutes after takeoff, a leak in the atomizer system forced the crew to return. Repairs were completed and the crew again took off 20 minutes later. Shortly after rotation, at a height of about 50-60 metres, the engine surged and suffered vibrations. The crew decided to return when the aircraft impacted birch trees and crashed in a wooded area, bursting into flames. Both pilots were uninjured while the aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire.

The aircraft commander came at the airstrip at village of Kozlovets at about 09:00 and accepted the aircraft from the aircraft technician, refueled with 400 l gasoline (according the record in monthly book) and after that moved the aircraft to the chemical charge stand, where the aircraft was loaded with 1350 l of chemical (herbicide). According the technician’s information, the first flight started at 09:15. The crew was incomplete. There was no copilot onboard. After the fourth (at 11:00) and after the tenth flight (at 13:30) the aircraft was refueled with 200 l of gasoline. At the airstrip after the 11th flight for AW two outsiders climbed on board with aircraft commander’s permission, who were not crew members and the twelfth flight was performed with them. One person, 11-year schoolboy, took the right-hand seat in the cockpit and the other person stayed upright between the two pilot seats. The aircraft took-off from the temporary airstrip and headed for treatment of an agricultural field, situated behind a height relatively to the place of the temporary airstrip. After the end of spraying of the first plot during the left-hand turn at very low altitude the aircraft collided with the ground in a heading of 310°. As a result of the collision the construction was destroyed, the aircraft turned around the left hand wing to 180° from the flight direction, a spilling of fuel and oil emerged and a fire blow up, which destroyed the fore part of aircraft fuselage. The commander and the person standing between the pilot seats received fatal injuries and the child in the right-hand pilot seat was seriously injured and was hospitalized in the town of Pleven.

On Friday 31 March 2006 the pilot intended to carry out topdressing on properties near a steep hill range nine kilometres to the south-west of Kaitaia. The day’s activities commenced at approximately 0600 hours when the pilot and loaderdriver met at Kaitaia aerodrome. The pilot and loader-driver flew in the aircraft from the aerodrome to a farm airstrip located on the back of a hill range near the Pukepoto Quarry where the fertiliser-loading truck had been parked overnight. The topdressing operation began in the morning with spreading approximately 25 tonnes of superphosphate on nearby farmland which was stored in the fertiliser bins next to the airstrip. As the last of the superphosphate was being spread, a consignment of fresh lime was delivered by a trucking contractor. The topdressing operation continued with the spreading of the lime on another property near the base of the hill range, about three kilometres from the airstrip. At around 1000 hours, while waiting on another delivery of lime by the trucking contractor, the pilot and loader-driver flew in the aircraft to another airstrip about 20 km to the south-east near Broadwood. They repositioned a fertiliser-loading truck located at this airstrip to another airstrip near Pawarenga, in anticipation of the next day’s topdressing. The pilot and loader-driver then flew back to the original farm airstrip near the Pukepoto Quarry, arriving at approximately 1100 hours. At about this time the pilot received a cell phone call from his supervising Chief Pilot. During the conversation he asked the Chief Pilot for his advice about the best direction for spreading lime on the land that he was currently working on. The pilot also commented about how the lime was ‘hanging up’ and not flowing easily from the aircraft’s hopper. The Chief Pilot cautioned the pilot about the poor flow properties of new lime and advised him to spread the lime in line with the hill range, not up the slope. The topdressing operation then resumed until all the lime in the fertiliser bin had been used. The pilot and loader-driver then stopped for lunch during which time the aircraft was refuelled and another truckload of lime was delivered. The pilot had commented to the loader-driver during lunch that the lime was still hanging up in the aircraft’s hopper. He was finding that he needed to complete about two passes to clear the entire load from the hopper. Just before starting the afternoon’s topdressing flights, the pilot had a conversation on his cell phone with a bank manager in Auckland. The conversation concerned the financial position of his topdressing business. The loader-driver reported that the pilot became very agitated during the conversation, but appeared to calm down prior to beginning the afternoon’s flying. The farm-owner observed the aircraft on its first flight of the afternoon as it completed the first two passes. He was aware that the aircraft had flown further away after these two passes and assumed the aircraft was returning to the airstrip for a second load of lime. He did not notice anything abnormal about the aircraft. Other witnesses reported that the aircraft flew parallel with a plantation of 30-40 metre high trees towards the rising hill range. The closest eye witness reported seeing what appeared to be fertiliser dropping from the aircraft as it flew along the tree line up the slope. The dropping of the fertiliser then stopped at which point the aircraft was seen entering a steep right hand turn away from the slope whilst descending towards the ground. The aircraft disappeared in to tall bush on the hillside and witnesses heard the aircraft impact the ground. A large smoke-like cloud was then seen rising up through the bush. On hearing the impact, the farm-owner and a local share-milker from a nearby farm searched the hillside for the aircraft. The aircraft was obscured by the tall bush and was initially difficult to locate. The share-milker made his way down the hillside through the bush to the aircraft. He quickly realised that the pilot was deceased. The farmer-owner went to alert the emergency services, however another property owner who had heard the aircraft strike the ground and seen the smoke had already telephoned the New Zealand Police. The accident occurred in daylight, at approximately 1345 hours NZDT, 9 km south-west of Kaitaia at an elevation of 880 feet AMSL. Latitude: S 35° 10' 26.1", longitude: E 173° 11' 29.4"; grid reference: NZMS 260 N05 283698.

The crew departed Retalhuleu on a special flight to Cuilco. En route, while proceeding to a mosquito control mission, the single engine airplane crashed in unknown circumstances on Mt Pinopa. Both pilots were killed.

The crew was completing a crop spraying mission with a load of herbicides on board. While flying at low height, the aircraft stalled and crashed in an open field. Both occupants were killed. Engine failure is suspected.

The crew elected to takeoff from a terrain located about 4 km north of Verkhnyaya Khava with a tailwind component and crosswinds. During the takeoff roll, the aircraft became uncontrollable and veered to the right, causing the right main gear to be torn off after it rolled in soft ground. Out of control, the aircraft came to rest upside down. Both pilots escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.