Pilot Debrief

AIR TRACTOR INC AT-502 near Carthage, IL — 2014-07-07

Final reportCEN14LA349
Sign in to save
Date
2014-07-07
Location
Carthage, IL, USA
Airport
PVT
Aircraft
AIR TRACTOR INC AT-502
Registration
N9185G
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Minor
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Takeoff roll

Probable cause

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.

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.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Mechanical failure
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have aborted takeoff when aircraft did not accelerate as expected.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 3 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents3

Related mishaps