Pilot Debrief

AIR TRACTOR AT502 near Whiteface, TX — 2024-06-14

Final reportCEN24FA221
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Date
2024-06-14
Location
Whiteface, TX, USA
Aircraft
AIR TRACTOR AT502
Registration
N2032K
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Fatal
Fatalities
1

Probable cause

Both pilot’s failure to see and avoid the other airplane during simultaneous aerial application operations over the same area. Contributing to the accident was the operator’s poor decision to assign the pilots to conduct separate aerial application operations in the same area.

Contributing factors

Contributing to the accident was the operator’s poor decision to assign the pilots to conduct separate aerial application operations in the same area.

NTSB narrative

Two pilots were conducting aerial application operations in the same field when their airplanes collided in midair during day visual meteorological conditions. The pilots were separately tasked by their operator to spray different areas within the field, with N2032K spraying the field corners and N8525V spraying the center circle. After N2032K had begun spraying, the pilot of N8525V arrived at the operation area and both pilots coordinated a deconfliction plan through a phone call via Bluetooth connection. Their plan was for N2032K to operate as the high airplane and N8525V to operate as the low airplane. At the time of the accident, N2032K was traveling eastbound on a spray pass while N8525V was traveling southbound. The pilot of N2032K reported that he first saw N8525V as it began climbing into his flightpath. The pilot of N2032K banked right, but insufficient time and distance remained to avoid the collision. The near-perpendicular flight paths produced a high closure rate and limited the time available for either pilot to recognize and resolve the conflict. Damage and transfer marks on N2032K’s right wing, and on N8525V’s right-wing and right-aileron components, were consistent with contact involving the airplanes’ right wings as their flight paths converged. There was no evidence of preimpact malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of either airplane. The airplanes’ average altitudes during their spray passes only differed by about 70 ft, and the pilots’ inflight-coordinated, informal deconfliction plan did not provide adequate separation where the spray patterns intersected. The pilot of N8525V had cardiovascular conditions, including coronary artery disease with past heart attack, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The FAA had renewed his Authorization for Special Issuance with those conditions 7 weeks before the accident. These conditions were associated with an increased risk of an impairing or incapacitating cardiovascular event, such as arrythmia, heart attack, or stroke. The pilot’s autopsy did not identify evidence that such an event occurred; however, an event occurring shortly before death may not produce reliable autopsy evidence. Medication-treated diabetes was among the conditions waivered by the special issuance medical certificate for the pilot of N8525V. His reported diabetes medications were detected on postmortem toxicology, except for semaglutide, which may not be detected by the methodology. His postmortem urine glucose result indicated that he was unlikely to have been experiencing a major metabolic disturbance from high blood sugar at the time of the accident. This result neither supports nor excludes the possibility of low blood sugar, which could have adversely affected concentration and performance; however, his reported and detected diabetes medications have a relatively low risk of causing significant low blood sugar. Other diabetes effects such as fatigue or blurry vision could not be excluded based on the results. The FAA’s renewal of the special issuance authorization indicated that his condition was likely adequately controlled in the past without significant medication side effects or long-term ocular or neurological complications. Thus, there is no clear evidence that the pilot of N8525V was impaired by effects of medical conditions or substances, including diabetes and its treatment, at the time of the accident.

NTSB coding

View NTSB final report

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