On November 10, 1982, an Air Tractor AT-301A (registration N23539) operated by David T. Kirk was involved in an aviation accident near Anthony, KS. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The pilot's failure to maintain adequate fuel supply, which led to an emergency landing and subsequent nose-over due to heavy braking. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive.
An aircraft running out of fuel during a spraying mission made an emergency field landing, then nosed over when the pilot applied heavy braking to avoid a terrace.
What happened
During a return from an agricultural spraying operation, the aircraft exhausted its fuel supply. The pilot initiated an emergency landing in a nearby field. After rolling approximately 300 feet along the ground, the pilot observed a terrace directly ahead and applied heavy braking to avoid collision. This abrupt deceleration caused the aircraft to nose over.
The investigation
Post-accident examination confirmed that the aircraft was out of fuel at the time of the incident. No mechanical failures were identified as contributing factors; the sequence of events was driven by fuel depletion and subsequent pilot control inputs during the landing roll.
Findings
The primary factor in this accident was fuel exhaustion during an agricultural operation. The emergency landing itself was executed successfully in terms of initial touchdown, but the subsequent nose-over resulted from the combination of high ground speed and heavy braking applied to avoid terrain obstacles. This highlights the critical importance of fuel management planning for low-altitude, high-workload flight phases.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate fuel supply, which led to an emergency landing and subsequent nose-over due to heavy braking.