What happened
Shortly after taking off with a chemical load intended for field spraying, the aircraft experienced a loss of engine power. The pilot attempted a forced landing, during which the aircraft contacted a fence. This contact caused the aircraft to nose over, resulting in the crushing of the fuselage area located aft of the lower wing trailing edge.
Because the chemical load had not been dumped prior to the impact, the additional mass of the liquid aggravated the structural damage sustained in the cockpit area. The occupants were not injured.
The investigation
During the mechanical examination, investigators discovered that the cable used for the manual activation of the salvo door was broken. It remained undetermined whether this cable failure occurred prior to the accident or was a direct result of the crash impact. Additionally, inspection of the engine revealed that the #4 cylinder exhaust rocker arm boss was cracked around its entire circumference, and the intake valve pushrod was found to be bent.