What happened
The pilot was conducting agricultural spraying operations, having followed another heavily loaded Cessna 188 to the target field. The pilot was unaware of the flight path of the preceding aircraft, as that plane had departed the area immediately upon reaching the field.
During the operation, the pilot completed an initial swath run from south to north along the eastern edge of the field. Following this, the pilot executed a 270-degree turn to align for a second swath run, which was intended to run from east to west along the northern side of the field. As the aircraft leveled off approximately four feet above the terrain, the pilot reported encountering sudden bad air. This encounter caused the airplane to settle into an impact with the ground. It was later determined that this second swath run intersected perpendicularly with the flight path used by the previous aircraft.